Seven years among the Fjort; being an English trader's experiences in the Congo district

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THE LIBRARY

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THE UNIVERSITY

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Seven Years among the Fjort,

i.oxdon:
printed by gilbert and rivington, limited,

ST. John's square.

„. 12° 10

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A T L A N T I

OCEAN

1

SEVET^^ YEARS AMONG

THE FJORT

R.E.DeTinett.

Trade, routrs fkus

^ ib' 4o'

LoncUui; Saoijistia Low, Marsiou , Searle i Riviagtaa..

2Zr Scr iiy ow

e riahfi &Sott, ,S'ii;Uei,Strut,Lunri->

Seven Years among the Fjort

BEING

AN ENGLISH TRADER'S EXPERIENCES
IN THE CONGO DISTRICT

BY

R. E. DENNETT

WITH TWENTY-THREE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM

PHOTOGRAPHS AND THE AUTHOR'S OWN SKETCHES, AND A MAP

OF TRADE ROUTES NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED

Eoution
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON

CROWN BUILDINGS, 1 88, FLEET STREET

1887

[^All rights reserved]

VT

INTRODUCTION,

My object in publishing this little book is
to better acquaint those who, from afar,
take an interest in the negro, with that
part of his character which most writers
have left undescribed, i.e. his home-life,
customs, and habits. I do this in all
humility, admitting that there are many
resident in Africa with far greater know-
ledge of him than I have, and regretting
that they have not more thoroughly under-
taken the task I now carry out to the best
of my ability.

It has been my endeavour to give as

1109475

vi Int7^oduction.

much information in as short a space as
possible, leaving out all description of
scenery so graphically given by Mr.
Stanley and Mr. Johnstone, and to allow
the illustrations to speak as much as
possible for themselves.

The drawings, worked up from my
sketches, may be greatly wanting from an
artistic point of view ; they are, however,
original and faithful representations of
scenes of which I have been an eye-witness.
I have therefore no fear in allowing them
to see the light. I thank Donald B.
Fraser, Esq., Dr. H. J. Bennett, and Seii.
Moraes for the photographs from which
the other illustrations are taken.

I wish also to express my sincere
thanks to my publishers, and especially to
Mr. R. B. Marston.

I can only add that, having no experi-
ence as a writer, any value or interest this

Introdtiction, vil

little work may possess will arise from
the fact that it is the result of seven years'
careful observation and experience among
the natives of the South-West Coast of
Africa.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

FROM EXGLAXD TO CAEENDA, KINSEMBO,
AMBRIZETTE, AND CHILOANGO.

PAGE

Leaving England — ^ladeira — The Kroo Coast —
Kroo boys — First experience of Traders —
My first surf — Cabenda — The Pegasario —
Native customs — Kinsembo — A Kabuka of
ivory — A victim to the surf — A narrow
escape i

CHAPTER H.

FOREIGN MISSIONS IN THE GABOON AND THE CONGO
DISTRICT.

Missionaries, ideal and real — Hopelessness of
mission work as at present carried on in
South- We St Africa — Growth of Mohamme-

Contents,

danism — What is wanted — Missionaries v.
Traders — Missions — Use the native makes
of his education — The French Jesuit
Mission — Deplorable state of the American
Mission — Terrible mortality in Protestant
missions as compared with Catholic
missions — A detestable class of missionaries 23

CHAPTER III.

NKISSISM ; THE RELIGION OF THE NATIVES.

Native ideas of God — Legends — A feteich of things
forbidden — Mixture of Native and missionary
religion — Nkiss, the Evil Spirit, exercises
greatest influence on native mind — Descrip-
tion of Nkissism — Legend of the Maloango
family — The traders and the feteich — Native
medicine-men — Ordeal by poison and by
fire — The Kiss-a-Kiss ... .46

CHAPTER IV.

NATIVE GOVERNMENT, LAWS, ETC.

Congo the Great Father — Usurpation of his
authority by subordinates — Officers of State
— Lawyers — Ordeal by Cassia — Relations of
Natives with white men— Native views of
right and wrong — Recompense for injury —

Contents, xi

PAGE

An affair with the natives — Trade stopped —
Blackmail — Ambassadors to the Princes — A
nigger to be burned as compensation — Kid-
napping a pirate Prince — Negotiations for a
palaver — Five or six white men ve7'sus four
or five thousand natives — Battle of the
" Linguisters " — Exile of prisoners — More
complications with natives — Folly of a white
trader — A dangerous position — Right of
way in Africa — Murder of traders — A trader's
revenge — Calendar of the Fjort . .72

CHAPTER V.

THE LATE POLITICAL UPHEAVALS.

A visit from De Brazza — Description of the
French explorer — " A most agreeable man "
— De Brazza's treaties with the natives —
Vandevelt — The traders ignored by the
Congo Association — Action of the French
— Lieutenant Harou — The Dutch Trading
Company— Fleecing the African Interna-
tional Association— Captain Grant Elliott —
The German Expedition under Doctor
Giissfeldt — High-handed action of the
Portuguese— The British Trader and the
British Government — " Our Country "
appropriated by the busybodies at Berlin —
An insult to France — Burninaf a witch —

xii Contents,

PAGE

French the official language of the Congo
Free State—" All Greek " to the natives .no

CHAPTER VI.

TRADERS — WHITE AND BLACK.

Description of a Factory — Terms of trade — A
native Commission agent — " Society " on
the coast — Various classes of traders —
Morality of traders — Their daily life —
Scarcity of billiard-tables — How trade is
done 133

CHAPTER VH.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A FJORT.

First impressions of the natives — Difficulty of
understanding their strange customs and
ways — Matchita tells his own story — Child-
hood and youth — Betting customs — Curious
methods of discovering a thief — Killed for
imprisoning a washerman — Native marriage
customs — An accusation of witchcraft — A
witch poisoned, stabbed, and burnt — Native
disputes about land — Funeral customs, and
pomp of a native funeral — Curious custom
in connection with the kiUing of a leopard . 145

Contents, xiii

CHAPTER VIII.

SLAVERY IN AFRICA.

FAGS

Slavery as it was, and as it is — General Gordon
— The Slave trade in the Soudan, in
Abyssinia, Morocco, Madagascar, and on
the South-West coast of Africa — Portugal
and the Slave trade . . . .182

CHAPTER IX.

THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

False statements respecting Traders and the
Liquor Traffic — Misleading statistics — A
suggestion for the Church Missionary
Society — How to suppress the Liquor
Traffic — Germany stood out for the traffic
when England and America wished to
stop it . . . . . . . 204

CHAPTER X.

THE PROPOSED CONGO RAILWAY.

The Congo Railway— What the traders
thought of the scheme — Real reasons for
its collapse — British trade the most impor-

xiv Contents.

PAGE

tant on the South-West coast and the most
neglected by the Home Government —
Prospects of the Congo State . . .216

Descriptions of the Illustrations . . 232

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS,

1. Cabenda Factory ....

PAGE
2

2. Badoongoo .....

10

3. ., crucifixion ....

12

4. Kinsembo . .

14

5. Ambrizette

20

6. Chiolango ......

22

7. Landana

. 28

8. „ Mission ....

3^

9. Curios ......

. 48

10. Maloango falls sick ....

56

11. Up the Quilo river ....

70

12. My mother takes cassia . . . .

80

13. My mother is killed as a witch .

96

14. Burial of Mambuco ....

104

15. Removal of Manimacosso .

. 120

16. He goes to the bush ....

. 12S

17. Arrival in the bush ....

136

XVI

List of Ilhtstrations,

PAGE

1 8. Departure for the Trader's factory

• 152

19. ^Measures his palm-kernels .

. 176

20. Measures his pahn-oil

. 192

21. Takes his pay

. 216

22. The dance ,

. 224

23- Surf

. 232

Map of Trade Routes . . To face

title-page

SEVEN YEARS AMONG
THE FJORT.

CHAPTER I.

FROM ENGLAND TO CABENDA, KIN-
SEMBO, AMBRIZETTE, AND CHILOANGO.

Leaving England — Madeira — The Kroo Coast —
Kroo boys — First experience of Traders — My first
surf — Cabenda — The Pegasario — Native customs
— Kinsembo — A Kabuka of ivory — A victim to
the surf — A narrow escape.

How brave one feels when, all prelimi-
naries being arranged, he drives down to
the docks to join the gallant little ship that
is to bear him to a foreign clime, against
which he has heard all that is bad ; where

B

2 Seven Yea7^s a77iong the Fjort,

all is so dark and ungodly, as on the
south-west coast of Africa ! Comfort-
able as the home you have left may be,
you, in your conceit, imagine that the
fortune you are going to amass will make
a better home of your own in days to
come ; but perhaps your home is not com-
fortable, and you know that a few odd
pounds now and again would help to make
it happier for those you leave behind.
Or are you one of the many who, after
years of patient labour, a slave of capi-
talists, find yourself gradually sinking from
the position your parents gave you to one
of obscurity and helplessness ? Con-
scious of what you ought to be, and know-
ing that in England, work you ever so hard,
you never will be, you wake one morning
to the determination that something must
be done if ever you purpose getting on.
Whatever object you may have, we will

1:

lisiii': '' ''

2§

From England to Cabenda, &c. 3

suppose it to be one strong enough to hold
you high above the terrible temptations
that will certainly meet, if they do not
overcome, you in the life you may expect
to endure while in such a country.

After a disagreeable passage, and a
dreary Christmas, we arrived at Madeira
within seven days. As we steamed into
Funchal the moon was shining brightly,
and the little town, in the pale but glorious
light, seemed the perfection of all that
was beautiful. Soon Blandy had his coal-
ing barges alongside, and without loss of
time we commenced coaling by torch-light.
Their flames gave effect to the scene.
As soon as day broke the fairy-like beauty
of Funchal and its surroundings seemed to
fade away, and the coaling did not appear
half as enchanting as it had done by moon
and torchhght.

Of course we all hurried ashore, and no
B 2

4 Seveit Years among the Fjort,

sooner had we placed our feet on terra
firma than our eyes were opened to the
deformities — anything but beauties — of
this antiquated and irregular town. We
were accosted by endless individuals, all
anxious to be our guides, and having
selected one, he took us about the place and
swindled us as I suppose he was in duty
bound to do. However we did Funchal,
and ate as much as we could, fearing
that our friend the skipper really would
carry out his threat of feeding us on salt
beef and pork for the rest of the voyage ;
food which, he impressed upon us, had
been considered good enough for him in
his younger days, and therefore he sup-
posed was good enough for us now.

The skipper hurried us aboard, and next
day we passed Teneriffe and commenced
to suffer terribly from the effects of the sun,
which gave us fits before we arrived at the

Fi'om England to Cabenda, ^c. 5

Kroo coast. At Grand Sesters we took in
a black crew to work the ship as far as
Cabenda and back, and many Kroo boys as
labourers for the working of the factories
on the coast. As many as thirty canoes
came alongside, paddled by Kroo boys, all
anxious to be engaged. This sight was a
very curious one, the charming get-up of
some of the more important members of
the community being as simple as absurd.
There a gentleman arrayed in all the glory
and dignity that a tall silk hat, and nothing
else, would give him, stood balancing his
tiny canoe, paddle in hand, and shouting
his last message, perhaps to his envious
brother in a pair of dress pants, or to his
proud cousin who strutted the deck in a
velvet coat.

The skipper chose those among them
whom he supposed would live to come
back again, though any stranger looking at

6 Seven Years among the Fjort,

the lot would have said that they all
seemed at death's door, so starved did
they appear. The rest he ordered over-
board, and over they went in a hurry.
Those that remained then stowed away
their empty boxes, and very soon the
black crew were hard at work and sing-
ing.

Passing Corisco Island, w^e steamed
into Elobey Bay, and commenced dis-
charging some of our cargo into the old
hulk anchored there. My first impres-
sion of the traders there assembled was
certainly not a pleasant one ; but this was
owing more, I think, to the fact of there
being one or two rough customers anxious
to take a leading part in the jovial festivi-
ties, whose foul and indecent language
naturally shocked me, than that there were
no decent fellows present. On further
acquaintance I found many nice men

From England to Cabe7ida, &c. 7

among them. This rough class of trader is
well-nigh extinct, and it should certainly
be the aim of the merchants at home who
now, if they choose, can have their pick
out of the best of men, to select only the
very best, as it is from the trader that
Africa takes its moral tone. At this time
the agent here had a pretty garden, and
had just planted the cocoa-trees that now
are in such a flourishing condition. We
amused ourselves by having a row across
to the island and making many trips to the
different small towns round about, which
interested us greatly, there being so many
wonders of nature and peculiarities of the
people to attract the attention of those of
us to whom all was new. Luxurious trees
and plants, mighty creepers, tropical
flowers, luscious fruit, curious and some-
what appalling insects, ridiculous inscrip-
tions on the rustic doors of the more

8 Seven Years among the Fjort,

important inhabitants' shimbecs or huts,
the careful examination of which helped us
to pass away the week we stayed here very
pleasantly.

From Elobey we steamed to Mayumba,
towing the Ruby Queen, a small schooner,
after us. But we only stayed here long
enough to enjoy a good oyster breakfast,
after which we departed for Cabenda. Going
through my first surf did not impress me
very greatly, though I did not at all
enjoy the wetting. The surf all along the
open coast is horribly disagreeable, and
sometimes is so bad that it is next to im-
possible to push a boat through. Most
traders, however, have good boats, and
splendid " patraos," or coxswains, who
watch their tim.e, and, as a rule, bring them
through safely. They count the big
breakers carefully, sometimes they say
there is only one big one — father they

From England to Cabenda, &c. 9

call it — and sometimes they have four or
five (father, mother, son and daughter,
uncle or aunt), and come in either on top
of the small wave following the last big
one, or just behind it. But if the boys on
shore do not catch hold of the boat on its
touching the beach and pull her high and
dry, it very often happens that the wave
followinof the one on which she floated in
will wash her out again. Then it's a case
of jumping out of the boat, and taking care
while so doing to choose the side against
which the tide is driving, otherwise the rush
will carry the boat over you, and possibly
crush you beneath as it is again driven
upon the beach. New men rather like
going through surfs at first, but after they
have been upset once or twice they see
the danger and generally fight shy.

Arriving at Cabenda at about 10.45,
we breakfasted and commenced work im-

lo Seven Years a77iong the Fjort,

mediately afterwards. Much to my horror
very shortly after my arrival, the natives,
probably to annoy the agent and traders,
burnt a woman for witchcraft within a hun-
dred yards of our factory.

Manichuvila, a prince residing in a town
near to us, died about this time, and I was
much amused watching the little bands of
negroes as they marched past us from the
towns on the other side of the bay on their
way to weep for him. Some were quiet
and well-behaved. Others, the followers of
more important princes, painted in a curious
fashion, and bedecked in feathers, armed
with flintlocks, were noisy in the extreme,
giving the agent a lot of bother, as they
refused to pass without a matabixo or drink.
Manichuvila was only buried last year, six
years having elapsed since his death.

I here also first became acquainted with
the Pegasario or Badungo. No one is

O ^

o S

Fro77i England to Cabenda, &c. 1 1

supposed to know who he is, but, got-up In a
hideous double-faced mask, and dress made
entirely of dried leaves of the banana or
plantain- tree, very bushy and heavy-looking,
he occasionally comes among the people
armed with a long wooden sword. Every-
thing he touches on his way becomes his
property, thus you may Imagine the dis-
turbance his visit creates : all is confusion
and hurry, as the natives vainly attempt to
hide their little all before his coming. He
is supposed to watch over their morals
and punish any offender by crucifixion.
Generally he appears on the scene after
some irregularity in the fall of rain occurs,
as the Nkissist in Cabenda believ^es that
the committal of certain Indecencies is
punished by the non-appearance of rain in
Its proper season.

A war was going on at the time between
two Important branches of a well-known

1 2 Seven Years among the Fjort,

family, and shots were constantly whizzing
over our heads in the factory, the blowing
of bugles and the noise of the dances
keeping us awake most of the night.

The Kroo boys, whose year of service
had been accomplished, were paid. The
head man, ^^ Liverpool," received the most,
second class and third class boys receiving
theirs in proportion. Their pay consisted
of so much cloth, guns, powder, gin, a
brass neptune (or big plate), on which was
thrown fish-hooks, needles, thread, knives,
tinned iron spoons, beads, brass rods, brass
wire, nickel silver spoon and fork, a coat,
a singlet or shirt, a cap or hat, soap, and a
little tobacco. After they had received all,
they set about paying their debts, and
made their women happy by adding little
presents to the pay they had given them.
They then set to and danced and sang until
they had to embark, which they did amidst

o •§

From England to Cabenda, c2rV. 1 3

the shouts and waiHng of the women and
friends they were leaving behind.

An EngHsh man-of-war entered port
shortly after the departure of the steamer
in which I had arrived. Cabenda being
one of those places at which leave is given
to sailors, many availed themselves of
the opportunity and revelled in drunken-
ness and vice in this very cesspool
of disease, much to their own degrada-
tion and our shame ; for in places like
these, where negroes look upon white
men as white men^ we all feel, and are
made to feel, the disgrace or degrada-
tion of one, and our moral force suffers
thereby.

The heavy rains that now fell probably
were the means of driving the Pegasarios
back to their homes, and saving the life of
some poor negro who othenvise would
have been crucified. Pestered by mos-

1 4 Seven Years among the Fjorf,

quitos, and anguished by the terrible pain
excited by a ''jigger" (a sand-flea
imported from America, 1870), that had
buried itself in one of my toes ; left to
myself with little or nothing to do
preparatory to being appointed to some
distant factory, I filled-in the interval by
enjoying my first fever, which in antici-
pation I had feared so much, and was
agreeably surprised to find that my fears
had no foundation.

I was now ordered to prepare for my
departure for Kinsembo. We steamed
from Cabenda per ss. Cadenda, at 8 a.m.
on Saturday, arriving at Kinsembo 10.30
a.m. Sunday morning, and after having
made a capital rush through the surf in a
surf-boat, we entered the river Doce, and
landed at the foot of the high point on
which four or five factories are situatedr
After Cabenda, Kinsembo appeared a

«?

O -!^

From England to Cabenda, cfc. 15

wretched and desolate place enough, a
sandy desert, in fact.

When we had discharged and loaded the
steamer, she again returned to Cabenda,
leaving me as an assistant in Kinsembo.
The next day a negro came round the
point, blowing lustily at his bugle to call
our attention, and to inform us that we
were to expect a " kabuka " of ivory ; and,
sure enough, on the following morning,
very early, we saw a grand procession of
negroes carrying ivory on their way down
to us. The trader in charge of our place
succeeded in securing three of the largest
teeth, but his limit did not allow him to
pull in the many smaller ones. The
'' bundle " given for the ivory struck me
as a confusion of guns, powder, brass
neptunes, cloth, and ''breakthings" or small
articles of hardware or earthenware, and a
big top or present to the native trader who

1 6 Seven Years among the Fjort.

introduced the bushmen and owner of the
ivory. I really admired the native for
his cuteness and exact knowledge of the
bundle.

Many pleasant evenings, did I pass in
Kinsembo, the trader in charge being in
every way a thoroughly well-educated and
wonderfully gifted man. Study in all its
branches, from photography and medicine
to music and moral philosophy, occupied
most of his leisure. My time during the
day was fully employed picking up the
necessary knowledge of trade and general
experience in cooking, also management in
household arrangements and treatment of
the natives, sick or healthy. I had been
told that I should find everything necessary
on the coast, and that, therefore, I need
not take anything out with me in the shape
of an outfit. I found this a tremendous mis-
take, however, for having brought next to

From England to Cabenda, &c, i 7

nothing with me, I had now to set about
ordering pillows, sheets, etc., from home,
besides having to secure the services of
a native tailor to make light clothes of
any light material I could lay my hands
on, and which of course neither fitted me
well nor comfortably. I had to pay the
tailor six yards of cloth and one bottle of
rum per coat, and one cup of rice per day
rations.

On Easter Eve the s.s. Loj^d Collingwood
steamed into its anchorage off Kin-
sembo point, and the purser landed in the
ship's surf-boat to make inquiries about
the cargo he might expect from the traders
on the ship's return from Loanda. He
visited the last white man shortly after
5 p.m. and was told by him to lose no time
in getting off to his ship before dark, as it
was impossible to cross the bar by moon-
light. Never shall I forget that Easter

C

1 8 Seven Years a77tong the Fjort.

Eve ! We paced up and down the yard
in front of our factory ; at times deeply en-
grossed in some interesting discussion, at
times in silence, now and again pausing
to look upon the beautiful picture nature
placed before us. The pale but clear and
glistening light thrown by the moon upon the
white roofs of the different factories round
about us, the rocky point, the lonely palm-
tree, the glimmering dark-blue sea, here
and there relieved by silver-tipped waves
dashing against the rocks, the restless
steamer, with its faded but still twinkling
lights, riding at anchor in the far distance
made an impressive scene.

While we paced to and fro little did
we dream of the tragedy that was to mark
the otherwise still and peaceful evening we
were so enjoying, of the vain struggle that
was taking place behind the very point
upon which we were strolling !

From England to Cabenda, (jfc, 19

At daybreak of Easter Sunday we joy-
fully hoisted our flags, but soon were com-
pelled to lower them out of respect to the
memory of the dead — for the purser of the
Lord Collingwoodhdi^ been drowned. The
Kroo boys and surf-boat did not reach the
steamer until 1 1 p.m. on Easter Eve, and
then they told the captain how the purser
had not left the beach until after 8 p.m.;
how the coxswain, misguided by the
light of the treacherous moon, had mis-
judged his time, and how the boat had
been upset. Their first thought was for
their master, and after a heavy struggle
they managed to drag him safely to shore.
His first thought on touching land was
for the safety of his master's property.
" Save the boat," he cried, and the Kroo
boys, once more facing the angry waves,
saved the boat and returned to their master.
But he was nowhere to be found, and they

C 2

2 o Seven Years among the Fjort,

supposed that in his anxiety he had ven-
tured too near the surf, and that a wave
had washed him out to sea. His body
was never recovered.

Shortly after this I had to proceed north
as far as Ambrizette, to help a trader there
who had fallen sick, and after having been
there some two or three weeks, returned
by steamer to Kinsembo. The surf was
bad, but our '^ patrao," a very good one, on
being asked if he could take us through,
agreed to try. I remember I had just
received my pillows, books, etc., from
home, and was anxious to see them safely
ashore, so had them placed in the boat.
The '' Kinsembo bar" consists of seven
or eight, sometimes more, semi-circular
waves, which, following one another closely
after dashing against certain solitary and
needle-like rocks dotted here and there,
eventually spend their fury either on the

liiiiir

From England to Cabenda, &c, 2 t

beach, or on the shallow at the mouth of
the river Doce.

We managed to mount the first of these
waves, and w^ere being carried furiously
but steadily along when our " patrao " for
a moment lost control over the boat, and
we were driven past a rock like lightning,
which, as we passed it, tore our star-
board oars away, leaving us apparently
at the mercy of the wave following us,
as we filled : but the '' patrao,^' once more
regaining command of the boat, straight-
ened her before the next wave overtook us,
so that it washed us through the mouth
of the river Doce, where we quietly
sank.

The natives hereabout, though very
sharp at trading, struck me as being ex-
cessively uninteresting, and it was not
until I was removed as far north as Chi-
loango that I commenced to see much of

2 2 Seven Yea7^s amoiig the Fjort.

interest in negroes at all. The tribes south
are as monkeys when compared to the
Cabendas and Loangos, the true Nkis-
sists.

CHAPTER II.

FOREIGN MISSIONS IN THE GABOON
AND THE CONGO DISTRICT.

Missionaries, ideal and real — Hopelessness of mission
work as at present carried on in South-West Africa
— Growth of ]Mohammedanism — What is wanted —
ISIissionaries v. Traders — Missions — Use the
native makes of his education — The French Jesuit
Mission — Deplorable state of the American Mission
— Terrible mortality in Protestant missions as
compared with Catholic missions — A detestable
class of missionaries.

It is sad for one, who has been accus-
tomed from his childhood to look upon
missions abroad as great, good works,
which he is in duty bound to support in
every way, to bring himself to say hard
things of missions and missionaries when
seen at work in their selected fields.

24 Seven Years among the Fjort,

Few, I am afraid, can conscientiously
say much good of missions as they are
carried on on the south-west coast of Africa,
that is to say, as far as converting and
Christianizing the heathen is concerned. To
improve the native's mind in a rehgious
sense appears entirely hopeless ; he does
not seem able to grasp the entire beauty
of a Christian idea, but only such a part
of It as may ingratiate himself to the
liking of his teacher, and so obtain some
advantage which he can understand In an
extra length of cloth or a cast-off coat of
his easily-flattered master. One reads of
the terrible bondage of the children of
Israel, and of the way by w^hlch God pre-
pared Himself a people. History tells us of
how great races have, through endless
struggles, been brought to a fit state of
mind to receive the Word. A farmer
ploughs, breaks up and thoroughly prepares

Foreign Mtssio7is in Gaboon and Congo. 2 5

his ground before sowing his seed ; why
then should we expect missionaries to
succeed In such a hurry^ in a field so
barren and unprepared ?

Is it wise to spend thousands on foreign
missions, while for a few^ hundreds well
spent at home you might chance to inspire
a few of the many heathen about your
towns to follow Christ and unfurl their
banners as English and Christian traders,
travellers, leaders and commanders of the
people? Is it worth while to spend your
thousands on such a barren field, expecting
nothing but the certainty of seeing the few
plants you have carefully tended for so
many years and at so great a cost, being
overgrown and smothered by that most
rank and wide-spreading of all tropical
creepers, Mohammedanism ? Yes, is it
worth while, when by means of Christian
laymen, ready to carry the Word of Christ

26 Seven Years among the Fjort,

right through the country at so small a
cost, you can wrest the country not only
from Mohammedanism but, In time, from
superstition and grovelling and degrading
priestcraft ? Leave the natives alone for
the present In these unprepared countries ;
but if you must send out missionaries,
attach them to some great trading centre,
and let them devote their lives to the
saving of the traders, and through them, In
God's good time, they may work wonders.
A good missionary, (and only the very
best of men should be missionaries), who
could hold his own with men of the w^orld,
giving them credit for higher objects than
mere money-making, encouraging each
in what he, after mature study, saw good
and likely to help the great object he had
at heart, i.e. the careful and thorough
preparation of a field In which future
generations might complete the work

Foreign missions in Gaboon and Congo. 2 7

he had endeavoured to commence, would
find in time working thus, hand in hand
with the trader from the commence-
ment, even though the latter knew
it not, that instead of having to waft
home that everlasting growl about the
wickedness of traders who undo all the
good which missionaries suppose that they
have done, would be able to report pro-
gress and give the trader credit for at least
teaching the native and forcing him to
keep such of God's commandments as were
necessary for the proper working of his
factory and the protection of his master's
interest, though he might not have in-
structed them much about the doctrines
of the sect to which the missionary might
belong.

As far as mere education is concerned,
I suppose the American Baptist Mission in
Gaboon, and the Missions of the Holv

28 Seven Years among the Fjort,

Spirit in Gaboon, Loango, and Landana,
can pride themselves on having taught
many how to read and write, but as they
cannot civiHze or Christianize the peoples'
minds at the same time, this accomplish-
ment has become a constant source of
annoyance and evil. A native can see no
advantage in being able to write and read,
except that it gives him a pull over his more
ignorant brother, and places him, as he
thinks, on a level with the white man, who
has enjoyed the constant influences of
Christianity and civilization for over 1800
years. I have never been the happy
recipient of a decent letter from any of
these gentlemen, they have all been either
servile or insulting ; and to give some idea
of what a nuisance and annoyance such
epistles are, the following may serve. A
certain prince in Cabenda had handed over
two of his sons to serve a certain trader in

L

Foreign Missions in Gaboon and Congo, 29

a south factory as ''sense" boys, that is to
say, the white man was to clothe them, feed
them, pay them so much a month, and
teach them how to serve at his table, so
that they might hereafter procure situations
as stewards or valets. They were to serve
him a year. Shortly after their arrival
some one had enticed the boys to run away :
the trader, who was held responsible for
the boys to a certain extent, secured them
and chastised them slightly, giving them
what is called palmatory, to teach them
sense. The father, having heard an ex-
aggerated account of their thrashing, pro-
cured the services of one of these educated
scribes, who was paid so much for his
trouble and therefore, I suppose, thought
himself bound to place all his knowledge
at his hirer's disposal. The letter, of
course, was a most insulting one, sprinkled
with all sorts of blasphemous and learned

30 Seven Yeai^s among the Fjoi^t.

phrases, "in the sight of God," "nolens
volens," "shameful white man," "consul,"
" Her Majesty the Queen of England,"
etc. This same scribe, who had been
turned out of his last employment for theft,
had applied for the situation of cook in
Cabenda, so the agent there sent to town
for him, and on questioning him, seeing
how matters stood, gave him one dozen
palmatory for blasphemy, and one dozen for
annoying and insulting a peaceful trader.
The sons of Baron Puna, a negro of some
importance in Cabenda, colonel in the
Portuguese army, had his sons educated at
the cost of the Portuguese Government, in
Portugal, after which endeavours were made
to put them to w^ork in the Government
offices in Loanda. Well, how do we find
these gentlemen after their university
career at Coimbra, and other European
advantages ? They are most degraded and

Fo7^eign Missions in Gaboon and Congo, 3 1

drunken barbarians, ever ready to annoy the
traders, and with knowledge enough to use
their own native laws, customs, and supersti-
tions with the worst and most awful effect,
either against their poorer and less favoured
brethren or against the white man. Many
others I could mention, who have not had
the advantage of a European education,
and, though not worse, are the curse of
that part of the country in which they
reside.

The noble buildings which form the
French Jesuit Mission in Gaboon remind
one of the substantial and solid structures
we are accustomed to see at home in con-
nection with ancient churches and priories.
A quadrangle, composed of the chapel,
reception-rooms, bishop's residence, and
workshops, forms the principal part of the
mission, though, as you pass through the
beautiful grounds, huge buildings, all of

32 Seveji Years among the Fjort,

solid stone, attract your attention ; here a
galley or kitchen ; here a dining-hall, with
rooms for many of the children above, and
there a carpenter's workshop ; here a palm-
oil manufactory, there a lime-kiln. When
one is told that all these buildings have
been built by themselves, after they had
instructed men as lime-burners, stone-
masons, carpenters, and that the shoes they
wore were made and mended by those they
have taught, their clothes cut out and made
by their own tailors, one cannot but pause
and in silent wonder admire the patient,
self-sacrificing work of these truly noble
priests, who quietly and humbly are trying
to prepare (though at an enormous cost)
a field for those who may be coming after
them. Nothing can be said against such
a monument of perseverance and industry ;
where all is order, peace, and harmony,
except the unsatisfactory all^ that it appears

Foreign Missions in Gaboon and Congo. 2)0

to be love's labour lost in so far as their main
object is concerned. On the other hand,
no words can describe the utterly disordered
and squalid state of the American Mission
at the other end of the town. It would
be hard to find anything to say in its
favour except that the minister seemed to
have a comfortable time of it, and had
the good fortune to be blessed with a
good wife and pretty children, which
gave his part of the establishment a
homely look, quite refreshing to the eyes
of an old celibate African. I don't sup-
pose, neither should I like any one to
jump to the conclusion, that the minister
was in any way to be blamed for the
wretched state of affairs : he may not be
supplied with sufficient means to make the
concern of any use to civilization, and may
be expected merely to prosecute the
evangelizing part of the business* I

D

34 Seven Years among the Fjort.

know that the French government had
given orders that all teaching was to be in
French or native ''mouth," owing possibly
to the fact of the natives (who for the
most part trade in English) being anxious
to learn English at the American Mission.
Still such a state of affairs is deplorable, to
say nothing of the terrible waste of money
which, if properly used in patient prepara-
tion of a field for future workers might be
spent to some purpose. It seems as if
nobody cared (or were allowed by those at
home) to plough. All were anxious to
sow and reap, heedless as to where the
seed fell so long as one or two ears could
be reaped within their time and those few
made much of. After forty years of self-
sacrifice and self-denying labour, an old
missionary (having been robbed at the last
minute of all his little savings by one
of his own dear lambs) had to confess that

Foreign Missions in Gaboon and Congo. -^^

he could not point, so far as his experience
went, to a single native and call him really
a Christian. Both these missions have
establishments up the Ogowe. ^The Jesuits
have just commenced a mission station at
Loango, and have had one in existence at
Landana for fourteen or fifteen years, both
on the same practical lines as that in^
Gaboon, but their buildings are of wood.
They have been obliged to remove their
establishment from S. Antonio, on the
south bank of the Congo, to Niamlov, on
the north ; probably owing to the decision
of the Berlin Conference, by which S. An-
tonio was declared Portuguese territory, but
ostensibly on account of the bad treat-
ment received by them from the natives.
At Boma and at Stanley Pool, or rather at
Brazzaville, this mission now, for a few
years, has also had stations. The ground
at Landana are most tastefully laid out.

36 Seven Years among the Fjo7't.

and under the skilful management of Pere
Antonio Carey, the superior and prefet
apostolic of the Congo district, I think is
almost the perfection of what a mission
should be. Instead of preaching about in
the towns, where no one can understand
them, he and his seven or eight assistants
devote themselves entirely to their little
ones, whom they educate practically as
carpenters, shoemakers, tailors, and gar-
deners. If by any chance they discover
that among this happy congregation one or
two are fit for higher things they push them
forward according to their abilities. After
fifteen years' hard work they have not found
one, however, whom they could conscien-
tiously bring forward for orders, though
some few act as lay helpers in simple
matters. They endeavour to persuade the
elder boys to marry and settle on their
property, but few have done so, preferring

Foreign Missions in Gaboon and Congo. 2)7

to marry in their towns and gradually sink
back into their grovelling and superstitious
habits. Many, and grievously discouraging,
are the trials these holy men have to bear ;
still they plod on, knowing that their lives
are dedicated to that particular work, and
expecting neither change nor reward, nor
to see the fruit of their labour. None
could be more hospitable and jolly
than these good souls are when you
pay them a visit; none more anxious
to explain the working and objects of
the mission. Neither do they forget to show
you its shortcomings ; in fact, a very in-
teresting half-day can be spent either at
the I.andana or Gaboon establishments.
Music and singing are among the many
accomplishments of the little ones. In
Gaboon they have started a brass band,
but in Landana, Pere Carey will always
make up for this want by calling all his

38 Seven Years among the Fjort,

songsters together in some lovely spot in
the garden, spades, hoes, or what not in
hand, and bid them sing to you. And
very prettily they do sing. It is curious to
hear them sing in their own tongue words
put to well-known chants and hymns. In
this well-ordered mission one seldom hears
of the death of any member; they all seem
well-tried men ; some of them have lived
many years on the coast. How different
this is from the terrible mortality among the
other, Protestant, missions, of which one
hears so much, such as the Baptist Mission,
and the '' Livingstone Inland Mission ! "
This is easily accounted for. The same
waste of life, as of money, is allowed by these
missions, and a practical man can see a little
good resulting from the one as the other.
A missionary, after so many years' prepara-
tion at home, is sent out, full of zeal and
ignorance^ and, instead of being received

Foreign Missions in Gaboon and Congo. 39

into some well-managed establishment,
where he could gradually be prepared for
higher work, is allowed to show his
zeal — poor fellow ! — by exposing himself
to all sorts of weather and hardship,
entirely unnecessarily, making himself
the laughing-stock of men who know
the country and the people. The whole
working of these missions is a mystery.
Nothing seems in order ; all is hurry scurry
and ''is your soul saved." The ambi-
tion of the missionaries is as great as their
fussy zeal. Except in the case of one or
two fixtures, one can never lay his hand on
any of them. " Where's so and so ?" you
ask. '' Dead." ''Why, he only came out
by last mail ! " " Yes ; but he over-exerted
himself in his wish to arrive at such and such
a place in order to succeed Mr. so and so,
who has been removed to such and such a
station on account of the sudden determi-

40 Seven Years among the Fjort.

nation of Mr. Lonely to go home, and you
know we are getting our steamer ready at
Stanley Pool, and have to open out new
stations on the Kasai and at the falls."
Not that there are not men worthy in
every way of their high calling in these
missions, but their abilities are wasted
through the terrible hurry, ignorance, and
ambition of the societies that send them
out ; who spread them over such a vast
country, and employ them in matters so
foreign to their calling, that one wonders
whether they are travellers, fonvarding
agents, or gentlemen in search of some
secluded and barren spot, where, by their
exertions, Christianity, or something like it,
may eventually, by the help of some invisible
power, become ingrafted in the hearts and
minds of an otherwise quite contented and
indifferent people. This is what is called
sowing the seed.

Foreign Missions in Gaboon and Congo, 41

It, perhaps, Is rather early to form an
opinion of the work carried on by these
missions ; but concentration and steady
devotion to some pecuHar wants needed
most by the natives must be preferable
and more profitable to them than gadding
about aimless as to any reasonable purpose.

There is a class of missionary too, de-
testable and mistaken even to describe, of
which, happily, the Congo has only had a
taste. Three or four very common and
rough men, full of zeal, and '' trusting In
the Lord,^' appeared on their scene of
labours, having brought nothing with
them (as the ^' Lord would provide for
them ") except, I think, a tent. They
sponged for some time on the gene-
rosity of the traders, to whom, as a
rule, they made themselves most objection-
able. One died, shortly after his arrival,
through his stupidity In refusing to take

42 Seven Years among the Fjort.

medicine ; because he said that by so
doing he should be wanting In his trust in
his Saviour, who would "' pull him through."
Having found tent life unpleasant, they
sought shelter from the cruel weather
their Lord sent them in the hospitable
home of one of the Baptist missionaries,
whom they thoroughly disgusted with their
foul language, canting hypocrisy, and
their everlasting quarrels as to whether it
was right or wrong to take medicine.
Some of these vv^retches died. What be-
came of the rest I never heard. All I
know is that the Christian Herald im-
mortalized these poor " martyrs," and held
up the traders who, to their own utter
discomfort, had given these unw^orthy disci-
ples of the devil hospitality, to the scorn
of the whole world. Such is the reward the
trader almost invariably gets for showing
kindness to either traveller or missionary.

Foreign Missions in Gaboon and Congo. 43

How self-denying and good of the traders,
in their all-powerful and independent posi-
tion on the coast, it really was to have
taken pity on these uneducated wretches,
I leave it to my readers to conclude, espe-
cially when I tell them that they had been
newly conve^'ted from the very dregs of
the lower orders somewhere in America !

Missionaries, however, have little to hope
for, and know well enough that as soon as
they leave their field of labour the natives
will immediately return to their old ways.
Thus, we know, it has been ; for we read
of Portuguese missionaries having baptized
the King of Congo in the year 1482, and
of the consecration of the first black
bishop of Congo in 1529, and a long line
of more or less Christian kings until the
year 1670, since which time the intelligent
negro has gone through a long spell of
heathenism, until at the present time we

44 Seven Yea7's among the Fjort,

find him neither a Christian nor a heathen,
or whatever he was before, but a priest-
ridden fearer of the evil spirit, and would-
be reverer of the Virgin Mary, or nzambi.

Nzambi mpongo is the word used by-
many of them to signify God.

Nganga nzambi (God's doctor) are the
words used to distinguish the missionary.

The work of the present holy Roman
Catholic missionaries must in due time
have its effect ; their holy living, patience,
endurance, example, all must tell ; but
surely they must see that Roman idolatry
was in days gone by a dangerous method
by which to Christianize the heathen,
and will therefore endeavour to do away
with the use of images, amulets and other
charms.

Nganga nzambi gave the African charms
and amulets ; Nganga nkiss gave him his
gilly-gilly or kissikiss : Nganga nzambi

Fo7^eign Missions in Gaboon and Congo. 45

showed him Images of our Lord and the
Virgin Mary ; Nganga nkiss his Nzambi,
Mblahmundembi : Nganga nzambi his
holy water ; Nganga nkiss his malongos
(medicines).

Thus Christianity worked hand in hand
with Nklssism.

And after 400 years we ask naturally
what harvest are they reaping ? and the
answer is none ! The natives prefer their
own faith and their own priests, and are
more anxious to appease the wrath of the
evil spirit, whom they fear, than the
Nzambi of the white man who, they are
told, loves them.

46 Seven Years among the Fjoi't,

CHAPTER III.

NKISSISM ; THE RELIGION OF THE
NATIVE.

Native ideas of God — Legends— A feteich of things
forbidden — Mixture of Native and Missionary-
religion — Nkiss, the Evil Spirit, exercises greatest
influence on native mind — Description of Nkissism
— Legend of the Maloango family — The traders
and the feteich — Native medicine-men — Ordeal by
poison and by fire — The Kiss-a-Kiss.

NZAMBI may have been the word that, in
days of old, God was imperfectly known
by to the natives, nkiss being the name of
the evil spirit. '' Ngong, gong, ngetan
zambi " (" Listen, listen, in the name of
God"), prefixes all they have to say in a
big palaver. And if you ask any native

Nkissisin ; the Religion of the Native. 47

about NzambI, he will tell you that she is
God, but their ideas of her have evidently
been given to them by the white man.

They appear altogether indifferent to
Nzambi, troubling themselves little about
her attributes, because they imagine she is
too good to do them any harm. They, of
course, have many legends and fables
concerning her, all more or less tending to
show that the one great idea of her is,
that she was the first parent, the mother
of Congo.

Another, " Deisos," one sometimes
hears of. Thus Nzambi, Conoro, and
Deisos, form a kind of Trinity.

There is only oxiefetelch, called Nzambi,
that I know of, and that one of the biggest
general feteiches in the country ; a feteich
of keezeelas, or things forbidden, we may
call her. She is a wooden image of a
woman with a tremendous stomach, and

48 Seven Years among the Fjort.

is supposed to punish with death those
who eat of food that has been forbidden
to them as unclean. Nzambi, as an
nkiss or a feteich, I am incHned to think
is a more or less modern innovation —
probably dating back to about 1670 or
after — and that she originally was not
meant for a feteich, but merely an image
of the mother of Congo, or the Virgin
Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom the
ancient Jesuits held up to them almost, if
not quite, as a goddess. Let us then give
this feteich a place to herself between the
true ancestry worship of Nzambi, the
Mother of Congo (of whom more anon),
and the priestcraft of Nkissists.

It is my opinion that instead of the old
missionaries, before 1670, having taught
the Fjort what God is, they have, by their
ignorance and idolatry, so mystified them,
that only hundreds of years of patient,

Nkissism ; the Religion of the Native. 49

severe, and strictly truthful teaching can
undo the mischief they have done, and
bring God clearly to them as very God
and very man, the Creator and Redeemer
of all mankind, the sanctifying Spirit.

God, as we know Him, is quite unknown
to poor Fjort, hence his ignorance of all
that is good. Though we cannot call him
(the Fjort) bad, yet he appears so to us from
the absence of what we have learned to
consider good qualities in a man, such as
love, gratitude, honesty and uprightness,
etc. Instead of his actions being prompted
by love, duty, etc., all his movements are
actuated by selfishness and suspicion,
and the avoidance of the evil he is hourly
expecting.

The evil spirit, Nkiss, pervades all
things, and is eternal, invisible, to all save
the nganga, uncreated, but appears to be
especially resident in different large

E

50 Seven Years among the Fjort,

fetelches, each one inflicting, or being the
means of 'avoiding, different evils. They
are supposed to punish you with death if
you eat forbidden food, if you bewitch
any one, rob, or do anything contrary to
their will, prevent rain from falling in its
proper season, on the commission of
certain indecencies, and for faults of
omission cause one to fall sick.

I consider nkissism is to be divided into
four parts, i.e. the family nkissisi, the
general nkiss, the household kiss-a-kiss,
and the malongos or medicines.

The family nkissisi (ancestry worship)
is generally a feteich belonging to the
head of a large, powerful family, and often
consists of a green patch of grass, in an
otherwise barren spot, over which the
family have built a shimbec or hut, where
perhaps they also keep a wooden figure.

Congo, ages ago, sent his sons to govern

Nkissism ; the Religion of the Native. 5 1

his provinces far and wide, and wherever,
on their road, they met these green patches
they are supposed to have rested and
accepted the hospitahty of the feteich
and family resident there.

The head of the family is the only one
who is allowed to enter the schimbec, but
the family, every now and again, is called
together to clear away the grass and
rubbish that may have accumulated round
about. They do this singing the while.

The legend concerning the Maloango
family may help better than anything else,
to enlighten one, in examining this subject
of family feteiches, to form a truer idea
of the estimation in which a Fjort holds
his family history and feteich or nkissisi.

Long, long ago, when Congo first sent

his sons forth to govern his far distant

provinces, the one bound on the longest

journey, after days and days of weary

E 2

52 Seven Years among the Fjort,

travelling, foot-sore and hungry, at last
arrived at the river Kacongo or Luize
Loango, which divides the province of
Kacongo from that of Loango, the province
to which the son was now bound. How to
cross this river puzzled him very much, and
when, in despair, he had almost given up
the idea of ever being able to do so, he
gladly espied an old man on the far side of
the swift-running river. Mustering all his
strength he hailed the old fellow, and
prayed him to launch his canoe and paddle
him across, telling him who he was and on
what object he was bent. The old man,
being of a benevolent disposition, shouted
to one of his many slaves, and bade him
go for the welcome stranger, reminding
him of the leaky state of the canoe, and
orderinor him to bale out such water as it
had made during the night, for the canoe
had not been hauled up out of the water

Nkissism ; the Religion of the Native. 5 3

the night before, but merely been run
beneath the mangrove-trees that overhung
the river, and fastened to a paddle well
buried in the slimy vegetable slush and
mud that had accumulated around the
many trellis-like roots of that peculiar
and swamp-loving tree. The old man him-
self toddled off to his schimbec to inform
his numerous wives of the arrival of the
prince, about whose coming they had heard
so much, and to prepare him a bank to sit
upon and a mat whereon he might repose
after having partaken of the repast the
wives now set about to get ready for him.
Thus, while the canoe was being paddled
across, the wives killed their fattest duck,
and boiled the palm-nuts soon to be dished
before the prince as a most delicious
moamba or palm-oil chop. They carefully
selected the beautifully prepared roots of
the mandioco or cassava, called mlac, to be

54 Seven Years among the Fjo7't,

boiled for him, and unwrapped the
chicoanga or native bread, throwing the
banana leaves, in which it had been en-
veloped to keep it moist and fresh, to the
numerous fowls that surrounded their little
home. They roasted a few heads of
Indian corn, and threw a few green
bananas into the ashes by way of adding
grandeur to the hurriedly prepared meal.
They did not forget to send their children
to catch the fatted goat for the evening
repast ; nor to despatch their slaves to the
different towns round about to summon all
to the feast to be given that night in
honour of their visitor. Those that had
tum-tums were not to forget them.

The old man was ready and anxious to
receive his honoured guest, and stood
prepared to seize the canoe as it touched
the bank so that the current might not
carry it through the narrow mouth of

Nkissism ; the Religion of the Native. 5 5

the river across the angry bar out to
sea.

As the son of Congo stepped out of the
canoe, the old man approached him
respectfully, clapped his hands quietly
together, laid them across his breast, and
then stretched one out to grasp the now
extended hand of his prince, then clapped
them together again very quietly. In
silence he then led the way to the chair
and mat placed for the prince under the
shade of a wild fig-tree, where his wives
were now kneeling to receive the guest.
As he sat him down all around clapped
their hands, and as he addressed a few
words of greeting to them they knelt, then
crossed their hands upon their breasts.

Here the prince sat in state receiving
the petty princes and neighbouring gentry
as they arrived to do him homage.

When, towards evening, many had ar-

56 Seven Years among the Fjort,

rived, each with their small offering to their
host in the way of drink and food to add to
the store of provisions and refreshments to
be used during the coming dance, the
prince called the old man to him and bid
all present hear what he had to say to
them.

By means of an interpreter or herald the
prince then thanked the old man for his
kind reception, and called him Maloango,
and said that one of his wives should
always bear the name '' Chimbumba," that
being the name of the Maloango family
feteich : that he should henceforth be
his gate-keeper at this southernmost ex-
tremity of his province : that he should be
charged with the reception and trial of the
six princesses whom his brother of Kacongo
would send on to him at Loango to
become his honoured wives : that he
should have the right to tear off the ivory

Nkissism ; the Religion of the Native. 5 7

bracelet, which marked the woman who
wore It as a prince's wife, from the arm of
any princess who might cross the river
without special permission, who, after he
had used her, should become the common
property of all his people : that he should
appoint a petty prince, called mafuca masi,
to the duty of ferryman. A grand dance
commemorated this visit.

Over '' chimbumba," the green patch,
Maloango has still his shimbec, where also
he had for many years an image called
Pinda, but a sad misfortune happened
some years ago to the latter, which
saddened the then Maloango and, they
say, finally broke his heart.

Some traders, on evil bent, much
annoyed by the continual dances given
round about the shimbec, which was close
to their dwelling, and bothered by being
continually reminded that they could not

58 Seven Yeai^s among the Fjort,

walk about or shoot over certain grounds
sacred to Pinda, as it was supposed that
she walked over them from her shimbec on
her way to the river to wash and drink,
determined to do away with her. So one
dark night they set out, and, having torn
her from her comfortable shimbec, cruelly
hurried Mrs. Pinda to the river, when, as
she was partaking of its waters, they
pushed her well into the middle of the
stream. Indignation, or some such vir-
tuous passion, appears to have entirely
deprived the old lady of her powers of
speech ; anyway, she neither shrieked nor
cried out, much to the traders' comfort,
as they watched her being swept out of
the river, and far away out to sea, by the
mighty current.

The next day two slaves were killed in
silence by Maloango, no one knew why.
But, little by little, it came out that Mrs.

Nkissism ; the Religion of the Native. 59

Pinda had found Chi Loango, or Little
Loango, much infested by that horrible
pest, the mosquito, and so had deter-
mined to seek another and more kindly
climate.

She swam as far north as Ponto de
Negro, and rested there, meaning evidently
to proceed as far as Loango, and then com-
plain to the king of her bad treatment.
But as this town became also pestered by
mosquitos, the people round about declared
that it was owing to her arrival ; they
therefore commissioned their '' Nganga/'
or surgeon, to throw Mrs. Pinda back
again into the sea. Mrs. Pinda lost heart
at this repetition of the insult already once
bestowed upon her, and apparently deter-
mined to try to swim back to Chi Loango,
but after many fruitless attempts to stem
the tide, she at last allowed herself to be
washed ashore in a frightfully exhausted

6o Seven Years among the Fj07^L

condition opposite a small town a few
miles south of Ponte de Negro, w^here a
kindly nganga picked her up and lodged
her carefully in a shimbec, feeling certain
in himself, and assuring her, that Maloango,
some fine day, would come and ransom
her. There she has remained, no Ma-
loango up to the present having been
able to pay the sum required for her
release.

Maloango Pongo soon aftenvards died
of a broken heart, as the natives, espe-
cially his relations, said, but really from
congestion of the lungs, complicated with
about ten other fatal diseases. His brother
Antonio^ however, who hated his cousin
Thomas, — who had always given Maloango
Pongo trouble, and whom he had often heard
called a witch by certain of the traders
when he had by his hateful and vicious
plots and disturbances greatly annoyed

NJdssisin ; the Religion of the Native. 6 1

them, — I say Antonio was sure that Thomas
had been the cause of Pinda's trouble, and
had bewitched Maloango and so caused
his death. He therefore, after havino:
first consuked the ngangas or surgeons,
openly accused Thomas of having be-
witched Maloango : Thomas, feeling guilty,
ran aw^ay, but Antonio, having seen that
his gilly-gilly was properly charged with
the malongos or medicines necessary to
drive away all the evils that might over-
take him on his perilous journey, pursued
the fugitive, and eventually succeeded in
making him his prisoner and forcing him to
undergo the ordeal of cassia or powdered
bark of a certain tree — about which more
hereafter. Thomas, having been proved a
witch, was killed, and Melinger, his brother,
and Antonio's, cousin, succeeded Ma-
loango Pongo.

Nkiss, or general feteiches, are those

62 Seven Yeai^s among the Fjort,

before mentioned as endowed with the
powder of evil, such as Mbialli, Mundembi,
Mangarka, and hundreds of others, into
which nails are driven on payment of a
certain sum to the doctor or nganga,
petitioner's request to be saved from evil
being considered as heard and certain of
accomplishment as the nail is being driven
in. A man, for instance, eats some pro-
hibited food, and if he does not die from
fright of the evil about to overtake him.,
runs to the nganga of the feteich or nkiss
insulted, and tells him all about it, be-
seeching him to give him some medicine,
that he may not die. The surgeon, unless
he wishes to get his nkiss' name " up " by
letting the man die of fright, on a certain
payment being made, gives him the neces-
s-ary malongo and drives a fresh nail into the
feteich, so that if the man again eats of the
forbidden food he may surely die. Perhaps

Nkissism ; the Religion of the Native. 6^}^

A. thinks evil of B., and immediately hurries
off to the nganga nkiss (surgeon) to get his
gilly-gilly (feteich of the third class)
filled up with the requisite malongo to
counteract the evil he is expecting as the
result of his evil thoughts. The nganga
will supply him, on payment, if B. is
enjoying good health ; but if, on the con-
trary, B. is ill, or if he is wishful to ingra-
tiate himself with B.'s family, he will trot
off to them, and hint to them that some-
body is bewitching B. B.'s friends implore
him to guess who it may be that is really
bewitching him ; B. dies of fright (not an
uncommon occurrence), and on being well
paid, the nganga divines that A. is the
witch. A. is then called upon to take,
as a test, the powdered bark of the cassia
tree, and cassia and fear combined kill
him, unless, on a further payment, the
nganga has been bribed by A.'s friends

64 Seven Years among the Fjort.

to put a bean or other substance into
the cassia, so that A.'s stomach will throw
up the noxious draught, and thus assert
his innocence.

Attached to this class of feteich are
endless ngangas, each famed for some
wonderful power of divination, and each
with his different mode of guessing. One
will sit him down upon a mat, after having
made his assistant sweep the ground for
a space of about three yards around him,
and there describe a figure upon the ground
before him, using his finger as his pencil, a
figure being chequered like a chess-board.
In each square he places stones or little
pieces of stick, and then appearing to give
his whole attention to his work, com-
mences rubbing the palmof one hand against
the palm of the other, now changing the
positions of his little pieces of stick, then
rubbing his hands together again, until at

Nkissism ; the Religion of the Native, 65

last the palm of one hand refuses to meet
the pahn of the other ; on the contrary, one
hand crosses the other above or below, as
the case may be, but never can he get his
hands to kiss each other. Another will
open and shut a box much like a pill-box,
and, as he thinks of one whom he supposes
has committed the evil, will endeavour to
pull off the lid, which, when he at last hits
upon the culprit, refuses to be separated
from the box. Another, taking two wisps
of straw, one in each hand, places them so
that their opposite ends meet and overlap ;
and then causing a small boy to lie across
the two wisps thus joined, attempts to lift
him from the earth : should he succeed in
lifting the boy, as he mentions the name
of him whom he imagines to have com-
mitted the evil, he considers that he has
guessed the culprit.

Some will take a knife, and having made

F

66 Seven Years among the Fjort.

It red hot. will pass it three times up and
down the legs of all around him until one
at last is burnt, and the blister thus raised
marks the guilty.

To describe one o^ these feteiches is to
describe them all. Imagine, then, a figure
of wood, some two or three feet high, re-
presenting a man, a woman, or some
animal with a distinct peculiarity about it,
either a long leg or arm, a curious foot, or
other deformity. This figure appears to
be one mass of nails, spear-points, knives,
or bits of iron, each of which has some
peculiar significance, known only to the
nganga, who indeed must have a marvel-
lous memory since he is supposed to know
by whom each nail was driven into the
feteich, and for what purpose.

It is said that when these feteiches were
carved (the ngangas, having first pointed
out the tree in which the evil spirit resided),

Nkissisvi ; the Religion of the Native. 67

many slaves were killed, and their blood
mixed with the blood that they say gushed
forth from the tree when it was cut.

I remember when Maloango Pongo was
first taken ill and consulted the ngangas :
he was stretched out upon a mat, the
scorching sun being allowed to play full upon
him, his wives kneeling at his head, while
Antonio and a few friends stood round about.
There sat the surgeon in his hideous mask,
— otherwise nude, with the exception of
a band or fringe about his loins. The
fringe was composed of countless ends of
pieces of cloth, about ten inches long,
hidden among which, by occasional tink-
ling, one is made aware of the presence
of a few tiny bells. A fowl is tethered by
one leg, a prisoner at his feet. There
he sat before M'bialli Mundembi, the
great and powerful feteich, with a little box
in his hand, amusing himself apparently,
F 2

68 Seven Years among the Fjort.

but actually engrossed In his business of
divination as he kept pulling the lid of the
box off and putting it on again. At last
the lid refused to be parted from the box
as he muttered the name Thomas. Poor
Maloango would not return to his own
town, so much afraid was he that Thomas
would do him some grievous harm. He
sought protection and hospitality In Ma-
tenda's town on the other side of the river
Kacongo, where eventually he died.

Antonio spent his money right and left
by calling down the different great fetelches
and having nails driven Into them, praying
them to kill the witches who had bewitched
his brother, and were still bewitching him.
The custom is to send the doctor six yards
of dark-blue cloth and a gallon of rum. On
receipt of this fee, the doctor will bring
the fetelch down In a hammock, carried by
two men, and have him placed carefully up on

N'kissis}n ; the Religion of the Native. 69

his feet. The petitioner then tells his tale
of woe, gesticulating most frantically as he
describes the evil done him, or the ven-
geance he wishes the feteich to take upon
the evil-doer; or as he loudly abjures some
evil habit in himself, such as drunkenness,
or forswears some unclean food. The
nganga receives the nail from the petitioner,
and, after having twisted It in his hair so
that, in dragging the nail away, he pulls
out quantities of the suppliant's hair, he
makes him kiss It, and then, finally ad-
dressing the feteich, repeats the request
or oath and drives the nail well Into the
feteich.

Thirdly, we come to the penates of the
Nklssist, his kiss-a-kiss or giUy-giHy. Gilly-
gillies are so numerous that to describe
them all would be to relate the family and
particular misfortunes of every deluded
negro in the country. As you notice that

70 Seven Yeai^s among the Fjort,

every native carries his kiss-a-kiss with
him wherever he goes, so you may be sure
that thereby hangs a tale. Generally the
kiss-a-kiss hangs from the shoulder by
means of a sling, but sometimes it is
attached to his waist. He will often leave
it hanging over some of his possessions
Vv'hich, for some purpose or other he has
been obliged to leave, or by way of appro-
priating a certain spot to himself, much in
the way our M.P.'s leave their hats on the
seats which they wish to secure in the House.
For the most part the gilly-gilly consists of
a small wooden figure, with a large box
for a stomach, which is filled with the
correct medicines ; this figure is almost
always embedded in some skin or other,
to which is attached a thick fringe, com-
posed of many ends of different pieces
of cloth, which in their turn serve to
wrap malongos in. Malongos, or medi-

2^

Nkissism ; the Religion of the Native. 7 j

cines, and charms, the fourth class of
Nkissism, are thus closely connected with
the gilly-gilly. These, though sometimes
given inwardly, are for the most part
attached either to a band tied round the
head, or to a necklace, bracelet, anklet,
or waist-band, and sometimes are distri-
buted over certain parts of the patient's
body.

Thus, during Maloango's illness he was
continually being spluttered over, and the
ngangas made a small fortune out of the
malongos sold to him. When he died, as
I have remarked, Antonio had numerous
gilly-gillies filled with different medicines
and charms before he set out to find and
secure Thomas.

Seven Years a?7io7ig the Fjort.

CHAPTER IV.

NATIVE GOVERNMENT, LAWS, ETC.

Congo the great Father — Usurpation of his authority
by subordinates, — Officers of state — Lawyers —
Ordeal by Cassia — Relations of Natives with white
men — Native views of right and wrong — Recom-
pense for injury — An affair with the Natives— Trade
stopped — Blackmail — Ambassadors to the Princes
— A nigger to be burned as compensation —
Kidnapping a pirate Prince — Negotiations for a
palaver — Five or six white men vejsus four or five
thousand Natives — Battle of the " Linguisters '' —
Exile of prisoners — More complications with
Natives — Folly of a white trader — A dangerous
position — Right of way in Africa — Murder of
traders — A trader's revenge — Calendar of the Fjort.

^ What the form of government may have
been previous to 1482 of course we cannot
know, but between that time and 1670
Congo seems to have ruled as the great

Native Government^ Laws, &c. "j^

father, fuma, or king, from Loango to
Loanda. Gradually, however, his viceroys,
or manifumas, appear to have assumed
the title of fuma or king, which, originally,
belonged exclusively to Congo.

The country north of the Congo was
divided into three great provinces, Loango,
Kacongo and Ngoio ; each being presided
over by a manifuma representing the
great fuma Congo, and, again, each being
divided into six departments, governed
in their turn by tekkli fumas, or lieutenants.
These tekkli fumas held their courts in
their chief towns, and governed their
departments constitutionally. Thus, Petra
Praia was minister of the marine ; Mancaca,
the secretary of war; Mafucas, the
ambassador's heralds or town clerks ; Man-
govas, the gentlemen-in-waiting. But dis-
tance and the difficulty of communication
placed too much power in the hands of the

74 Seven Years among the Fjort.

manifumas, who in time usurped the title
of fuma, throwing off their allegiance to
Congo ; the tekkli fumas thus assumed
the distinction of manifumas also. On the
death of the manifumas (now fumas) no
one could be found ready to undertake
the expense of burying him : thus in
death, and as a dead man, he lives, and
is yet supposed to reign. The tekkli fumas,
already by usurpation manifumas, then
became fumas, throwing off their real
allegiance to the great unburied ; so
that to-day each of these former tekkli
fumas is spoken of and looked upon as
a fuma, their sons manifumas, and their
grandchildren tekkli fumas. All these
petty princes now-a-days have assumed
the title of mani. Thus we have mani-
macosso, mani-sequigo, mani-Loango, con-
tracted into Maloango.

The Fuma or prince, Mambuco (prime

Native Government^ Laws^ cS^v. 75

minister), Petra Praia (minister of marine),
mafucas, heralds, and mangovas, gentlemen,
generally, as the heads of large and powerful
families, inhabit separate towns, and each
in his own town, with the help of his
old councillors, settles his own family
disputes. The Prince alone, however,
employs an executioner, or mancaca.
•Should the question be very serious, i.e.
one of life or death, a grand palaver is
held ; and when all the princes and
councillors are assembled, the plaintiff
and defendant having each emploved an
advocate (generally a fluent speaker), each
states his case. The advocates then
argue the case, bringing up manv pre-
ceding former cases, and reminding all
how^ they were decided. They compare
their clients to different beasts, plants,
or objects in the natural world, and
try to prove that as it is natural for

76 Seven Years among the Fjort.

a beast, plant, or object, under certain
circumstances, to act in such and such
a manner, so their client was forced to
act. /'When they have finished, friends
on either side may bring up palavers
within their remembrance or knowledge
and of judgments given. Finally the
princes and old men go apart to some
secluded spot, argue among themselves,
and, returning, give a judgment which is
irrevocable in so far as the point argued
is concerned, and forms a new precedent.
The loser, however, can urge another
question against the gainer, so long as he
can afford to entertain the princes properly
during their stay, and thus a loss is often
succeeded bva gain and the effect of thefirst
judgment is neutralized. Sometimes the
loser declares himself innocent and dares
them to put him to any test, cassia, etc.
Then, in the presence of all, he will take a

Native Government^ Laws, &c. 77

piece of mandioco root (from which tapioca
is made), the staple food of the country ;
or cassava out of the mouth of M'biali
Mundembi, the feteich before mentioned.
If innocent, it will have no effect on him,
but if guilty he will swell and then die
in terrible convulsions. There are two or
more kinds of mandioco, one being in its
raw state highly poisonous. Probably the
surgeon, knowing the man to be innocent
or guilty from previous knowledge, places
the poisonous or non-poisonous in the
mouth of the feteich accordingly.

Their relations to the white man are
much the same as to one another ; that is
to say, traders conform as nearly as pos-
sible to the law, and the natives treat the
traders as they treat their own ; always
remembering that a white man is a white
man and a black man a black man. In other
words that the white man is his superior in

'j^ Seven Yeai's among the Fjort,

wisdom and his superior as a prince of
cloth, in social standing and in the power
which his riches give him.

Tying up a man or making him a
prisoner is the only way that one has of
bringing matters to a climax ; but you are
not allowed to tie a man up until you
have resorted to all peaceable means of
coming to an understanding. A man, for
instance, owes you some money, or having
insulted you, or one of your people, owes
you an apology : you will at once send an
ambassador, whom you pay for his services,
and whom the delinquent is not only
bound to entertain, but also to make him
a present, and by him send you a definite
reply. Perhaps he will promise to pay
you shortly, or to come himself and see
you about it. After the day appointed
for his coming has passed and you have
heard nothing further from him, you are

Amative Government, Laws, &c. 79

allowed to tie him up, to make any of his re-
latives your prisoner, or secure and hold any
of his property that you can lay your hands
upon, until such a time as he has paid your
debt and all the expense you have been put
to in connection therewith. Debt you may
say is at the bottom of all their actions and
activity, for until they are or fancy them-
selves to be in debt they will not move.

Duty forbids them to steal, to murder,
to commit adultery ; but so long as they can
do one or all of these three without being
found out they consider they have done
no wrong. Once they are discovered, they
become indebted to the person they have
injured, and will do anything to pay off
their obligation.

They know it is wrong to wish you evil
unless indeed you have injured them and
will take the greatest care to hide their evil
feelings ; lest, peradventure, they may be

8o Seven Yeai^s among the Fjort.

considered your debtors and punished as
such. Neither will they rest night nor day
in the endeavour to make you pay them
what you owe. If you have spoken crossly
they will remain cross with you until
you make it up to them. Should you
have thrashed them, justly though it may
be, they are not happy until you have
given them some little present, and will
remember the debt they think you owe
them until you do. At times it happens in a
row that you wound a stranger or somebody
unconnected with the affair, when he (the
person thus injured) will urge the question
against you and make you pay most heavily
unless you can at once take him aside and,
apologizing nicely, get him to drink a cup of
something you give him ; for if he receive
anything from you, be it ever so small, he
cannot take any further proceedings.
One day a linguister, a native commission

-^%fe**.sa8f^^

"•^^T,::

< ^

K is

Native Government, Laws, &c. 8i

agent, arrived in a trading canoe, and
stated that Mambuko Poite, a prince some
way up the river Kacongo, at a place
called Chindendi, had taken out seven-
teen matets (baskets of trade) from his
canoe, and then allowed him to pass, stating
that he had no palaver with our house, and
that if I sent him five longs and five gallons
of rum he would make a little hole in the
" chiqueiro," or stoppage in the river, and
let my trade pass. I had my doubts as
to the veracity of the gentleman's state-
ment ; but the white traders up the
river came down with the news that
the river was shut, owing to a young
French naturalist having made a journey
up it without the leave of the princes.

I despatched an ambassador to Mam-
buko Poite to inquire what question I had
with him that he should dare to take
seventeen matets out of my canoe, but sent

G

82 Seven Years among the Fjort,

him no matabixo or present. I did this
so as to have an official reply In case of
future complications.

My ambassador, of course a native, to-
gether with ambassadors from other white
men, talked to the fat old man until he fairly
melted. But he said that he was afraid to
open the river lest some of his tribe should
come down as usual with their trade, and the
white men should do them some injury.
Finally they arranged that he should give one
nigger to be burnt for the error he had made
In stopping the trade, and should summon
all the adjacent princes and traders' ambas-
sadors,who should promise, in the presence
of all the feteiches, for their masters, that
they would do his followers no harm if he
burnt the nigger as a sign of the renewal
of the treaty, and opened the river. There
was a further condition, viz : that a law be
made that " chlquelros " were henceforth

Native Govern77ient, Laws, &c. ^;^

Illegal, and that any prince making one
should pay the other princes a certain
amount and burn a nip^grer on the re-
making of the agreement.

My ambassador returned delighted at
the success of his mission, the loss Mam-
buko would suffer by the death of the
nigger being considered punishment enough
for him — he did not trouble himself about
the pain and suffering the poor negro would
have to undergo. He also confirmed my
suspicions about the robbery of seventeen
matets by stating that Tate (the native
trader's name) had got through the ^' chi-
queiro " or stoppage by coming behind one
Manibachi,theprincegoverning the country,
Nsocoto, on the side of the river opposite
Mambuko's, who had taken out the seven-
teen matets by way of security for the
present Tate promised him, if he would
only get his trade through. This Manibachi

G 2

84 Seven Years among the Fjort.

was a most obnoxious and at the same time
a most important prince, and was principally
instrumental in the closing of the river,
having made poor Mambuko his cat's-paw.
He brought his trade down, considering him-
self all too big a potentate for the white man
to deal with ; perhaps vainly imagining that
all was over now that Mambuko had promised
to burn a negro. Unfortunately for him,
however, our ambassadors had only been
acting on their own account, and had been
taking a great deal too much for granted
as to the action the white man would take.
We took a great interest in all Mani-
bachi's movements, and had him closely
watched, it not being our intention to
interfere with him until he had quite
finished selling his trade. We determined
that it was for our common interest that
Manibachi should be taken prisoner and
held until such time as we had justice done

Native Government, Lazus, ^c. 85

to us for the great inconvenience and loss
Mambuko Poite and his friends had
caused us.

When he had measured his trade and
taken his pay and was about to paddle up
the river, he was promptly surrounded by
three other canoes which we had kept in
readiness, and after a shot or two had been
fired, was easily captured. The scoundrel
was secured, and as soon as we had placed
him safely in prison, we immediately sent
word to the white traders stationed up the
river, to put them on their guard against
any attack the natives might meditate.
Thus the meeting between Mambuko
Poite and our ambassadors and the
burning of the negro were rendered quite
unnecessary. The Nsocoto people at once
forced Mambuko Poite to clear the river,
and sent an ambassador to ^'Antonio,"
requesting him to write a threatening letter

86 Seven Yeai's among the Fjoi't.

to the white man. This he did and
promptly received a reply, in which we
pointed out the wTong that had been done
us, and invited him to come and see us for
the purpose of settling the question as soon
as possible, at the same time regretting his
implied threat, which only made matters
worse for the pirate we had in chains.

We were determined to make an
example of the man we now had in
custody, but wished to carry on matters as
far as possible according to native law.

By an old agreement any one making a
" chiqueiro " had to pay a heavy fine, and
kill a negro on the re-making of the broken
agreement.

This we found did not deter princes from
breaking the treaty, for the simple reason
that during the stoppage of traffic they
were able to rob far more than the fine
and the value of the negro.

Native Government, Laius, &c Sy

Mambuko Polte of Chlndendi, and
Manicequico or Manibachi of Nsocoto,
having both broken the old treaty, would
have to kill each his slave on its renewal.
That innocent men should be sacrificed
was of course to be avoided, if possible, and
we therefore objected strongly to finishing
the palaver in that way. Antonio having
arrived, we met him and decided upon send-
ing him up the river to make inquiries as to
who was really to blame for the '' chiqueiro '*
or stoppage of traffic, and to insist upon
Mambuko Poite and the tribe of Socoto
each giving up one well-known pirate to
be exchanged for Manibachi, who even-
tually, we promised, should have his free-
dom on the condition that the robbers
were to be handed over to the first man-of-
war that made its appearance.

Antonio, however, declined to pass up
the river, though he was ready to go over-

8S Seven Years among the Fjort,

land to Chindendl, where he would find
Mambuko Poite, and finally, having been
advised to carry on his negotiations in
Massabe, a place twelve miles north of
Landana, he did so.

Mambuko Manipambo, the chief prince
after the prince of Kacongo, now sent
us an ambassador, at the request, so he
said, of Mambuko Poite, to assure us
that M poite was in no way to blame for
the stoppage of the river ; to prove that
our prisoner Manibachi was the instigator
of all the mischief, and finally to propose
that the traders should go up the river
as far as Chiuma, a place half-way between
the sea and Chindendi, to hold a palaver,
the white men to take Manibachi with
them. The latter step was to show the
princes there assembled that the white
man would tie up any thief, as big a man
as he might be, and also to prove that the

Native Government, Laws, &c. 89

prisoner was still In the land of the living.
We replied that we were anxious to hold
a palaver, but were awaiting the result
of the negotiations now being carried on
by Antonio ; that as soon as the result
was known the traders would agree to allow
their ambassadors to pass all feteiches
necessary for the safety of the princes,
who were to come down to the sea to
hold the palaver. After more than a
month passed In negotiations we were
rejoiced to welcome the little French
naturalist who had been some months up
the river catching butterflies, and who had
passed Chindendl during the night, hidden
in a trade canoe. Had he fallen Into the
natives' hands, of course we should have
been obliged to change prisoners, and
then the question would have ended.
Nearly two months had passed and no
trade been done, so tired of awaiting the

90 Seven Years aiiiong the Fjort.

result of Antonio's negotiations, we deter-
mined to send ambassadors to the Loango
and Kacongo princes to say that we
were ready to hold the palaver. Mam-
buco, on behalf of the Kacongo princes,
declared that they were ready to hold
the palaver, but that it was to take
place in Chic. Mancotchi, on behalf
of the Loango princes, sent us an
ambassador to the same effect. We
determined not to trust ourselves so far
from the sea, and decided that the
palaver should be held on the beach, and
sent our answer to the princes.

Finally. — Out of consideration for a
few princes who, according to their
laws, were not allowed to look upon the
sea, we granted their request to hold the
palaver half a mile inland, half-way between
the beach and the French Mission, beneath
the shade of a wide-spreading fig-tree.

Native Government, Laws^ &c. 91

The princes came crowding down the hills
above Landana, some in hammocks, some
on foot, a pretty but an awx-inspiring sight.

One little incident struck me as likely to
lead to a row. It was about 3 p.m. and
the princes had nearly all taken their seats,
rows upon rows of their followers squatting
closely behind them, when we heard the
jeering, devil-may-care shouts of hammock
carriers, who, with a w^ild rush, brought a
prince in his hammock right into the centre
of the space left between the seats of the
white men and those of the princes. There
we five or six white men sat, without a
weapon of any sort, opposite to four or five
thousand natives, bent upon the release of
their imprisoned prince, when this little in-
trusion interrupted the hitherto even course
of the meeting. This prince was the mafuca
of Landana, and had appeared in state to
claim his seat. We, however, objected, on

92 Seven Years among the Fjort.

the grounds that we had done without him
for the last three years, and should en-
deavour for the future to do the same, and
so refused to allow him to take a seat. A
bit of a row ensued, and finally the would-
be mafuca left us in a huff. After all seats
had been taken Antonio opened the palaver
by describing the occupation of the white
man, how he came to Africa to trade, and
so benefit the natives, and not to be con-
tinually having rows with them. He sang
them snatches of the songs used by our
servants as they paddled in our canoes,
rolled our casks, or sacked up our kernels ;
he mimicked the hammering of the cooper,
and the Jack-wash as he washed our
clothes ; he sang to them of the old traders
long ago dead and buried, pointing out
their virtues, their life and death, and
of the youngest whose name had become
familiar to them. The whole assembly

N'ative Government^ Lazus, cfe. 93

seemed moved, and joined in when Antonio
sang any popular song. The effect of so
many being easily led by one who under-
stood them so well, the earnest way in
which they hung on his every word was
extremelv touchino^. Old men shook their
hoary heads and muttered rather than sang
assent disjointedly, forming a kind of
accompaniment to the younger men who
sang so energetically.

When our advocate or representative,
Antonio, had stated our case, the oldest
prince of Kacongo, through his linguister,
having repeated all that had been said as if
it w^ere a lesson learnt by heart, comment-
ing on certain points brought forward by
Antonio, and accompanied the whole time
by the entire assembly quietly clapping
their hands in perfect time, he concluded
amidst the shouts and applause of all.

Now Mambuko Manipaulo's linguister,

94 Seven Years a7nong the Fjort,

having stepped forth into the ring, the
king grunted three times to demand silence;
the linguister then, accompanied only by
Mambuko Manipaulo's people, who clapped
their hands softly, related how he, as
mambuco, prime minister of Kacongo, had
heard of the white man's trouble, and how
he had, after great difficulty, called together
this immense assembly, explaining every
step taken in so doing with the greatest
minuteness.

Mancotchi's linguister then told all he
had heard and done for those on his side
of the river in connection with this palaver,
which closed the proceedings for the day.

The next day, all being reassembled,
Mambuco Mani Poite was called upon to
state his case.

Then the people of Nsocoto stated their
version, the hearing of which took the
entire day.

N' alive Goveriiment^ Lazus, ctfc. 95

The next day the president informed
our linguister, after an hour's talk, that
Alambuco Poite and Manibachi had closed
the river for the three following reasons : —

1st. Because a white man had passed
M'buli, a certain village up the river,
contrary to the treaty, i.e. without leave.

2nd. That nearly all the white men used
big measures for their oil and called them
M'buko Poite, after the aforesaid prince,
who was a very fat man, and never * 'dashed"
him anything for taking his name in vain.

3rd. Because a white man had sent two
"longs" and one gallon to M'buko Poite
to tie up any canoe of the French house
that contained cloth or goods on its way
to the bush. -

The two latter reasons were proved to
be absurd and without foundation, and it
was proved that the white man had gone
up the river in charge of a well-known

96 Seven Years a^nong the Fjort.

prince of their own land. That they had
treated him well in his up-going and down-
coming, whereas, if he had done wrong, they
might have tied hint up and given notice to
the traders of what they had done instead of
illegally stopping the traffic of the river.
They admitted themselves to be in the
wrong, and asked the traders their terms
for the release of their prince. After a little
moralizing, which entirely convinced them
of the emptiness of the motives they had
given for the stoppage of trafific, they
admitted that they had only placed the
'^chiqueiro" there for the purpose of rob-
bing. They now asked us to release Mani-
bachi, and we agreed to do so on condition
that they repaid us for our losses. They
replied that they could not possibly do so
as we expected so much. We then
offered to release him on condition that
they would hand over to us three great

Native Government^ Lazus^ (jfc. 97

robbers In exchange. We named the
thieves Njimmy, Manichlnchlta, and
another. The first and last they were
wilHng to hand over to us as soon as
caught, but Manichinchita, they said, could
not be given up. They offered us, how-
ever, another in his place, and said that we
were allowed to take Manichinchita at any
future period if we could catch him. The
traders then did their utmost to secure this
pirate but with no success ; he had placed
himself under the protection of Mambuko
Manipaulo and had knocked all feteiches
against any one who should dare to give
him up. And there was still another reason.
Many years previously Manitatika, (from
Nsocoto and of the same family as
Manisequico,) was seized for a similar
offence and sent on a long visit to
" Davy Jones." He had never returned.
Now Manibachi was a prisoner and

H

gS Seven Years among the Fjoj^t.

Njimmy, the latter' s nephew, was to be
given up. To give up Manichinchita, the
uncle of Manibachi, was altogether too
much punishment for one family, so the
assembly was dismissed and our decisions
postponed.

After many stormy meetings the traders
finally resolved to accept the two thieves
and release Manibachi, making him re-
sponsible, by treaty, for any piracy that
might occur in the river for the future.

The question now was, what was to be
done with the prisoners. Some were for
drowning them at once, but others were
for handing them over to a French man-of-
war then coming into port. Nothing,
however, was decided. A few days after-
wards a Portuguese man-of-war appeared,
and, somehow or other, the idea to hand
them over to a properly constituted
authority was considered a very good one,

Native Government^ Laws, (jfc. 99

and the prisoners were there and then
shipped never to return.

Some time after this a Mancaca Setchi
had sold some trade to a white man up
the river, and, having lost a cheque, swore
that the trader never gave him one. What
does he do but rush a Httle way up the
river and unjustly tie up one of my
canoes, robbing the contents by way of
compensating himself for his supposed
loss !

I immediately sent word to the princes,
and demanded that they should give him
up to me according to the treaty made by
all the princes with the traders at the
release of Manibachi ; they promised to do
so, but thought that by delaying, the affair
would perhaps blow over. After waiting
many months I acted according to their
own law. A prince of the same town as
Mancaca Setchi, having brought and sold
H 2

I oo Seven Years amojtg the Fjort,

me trade, I requested him to walk into the
store as I wished to speak to him. Of
course he, expecting a handsome " dash" or
present, came, and I then spoke to him,
(having first locked the doors,) to the effect
that he, or the cheques he had received
for the trade he had measured, would have
to remain with me until his town gave up
Mancaca Setchi. No, he would not give up
his cheques. Then perhaps he would walk
into the chains ? No, he did not want to
be tied up. At last he left his cheques, and
off he went, hot foot after Mancaca. He
tried all means of getting out of the dis-
agreeable duty of tying up his friend, by
endeavouring to get his relations to pay
his bushmen. His friends did not feel
inclined to help him, however, and the
bushmen went back to their towns, and
threatened to stop the river up. Compli-
cations and the fear of further mischief

Native Government^ Laws, &c. loi

soon set the traders on the princes, and
very soon my friend appeared, covered with
blood and dust, leading Mancaca Setchi,
(also bleeding and in chains,) into our
yard.

I noticed that my friends' companions,
as soon as they had received a mata-
bixo, cleared out, and afterwards was told,
that one of them was Manichinchita, whom
we were all so anxious to capture. As
to my prisoner, I called the white men
together, and it was decided not to hold
a palaver, but to try the effect of sending
Mancaca Setchi after Njimmy and his
friend without any more to do.

Next day, by four o clock, he was on
his way to Loanda. The day after, his
uncle, Manfuca Bon9ela, sent me a large
canoe of trade, with the message that I
might take it all, if only I would set his
nephew free. I replied that such was

I02 Seven Yeai's among the Fjo7't.

impossible, as I had already given his
nephew up to justice. Soon after this his
uncle came down, and told me he was
very glad I had sent Mancaca Setchi
away, as he was an awful thief, and had
caused him no end of trouble.

Six months after this, one Mancaca Biobi
caused a similar stoppage of traffic in the
river, the only difference being, that the
natives in the canoe, objecting to being
robbed, fought, two persons losing their
lives thereby. The trader, whose duty it
was to administer justice, not being ac-
quainted with the treaty of Manibachi,
took it upon himself to finish the question,
regardless of former treaties, and deter-
mined to hold a palaver. From time to
time the date of the palaver was changed ;
at lasLwe were called together, and, out of
courtesy, had to listen to what the trader,
and the natives had to say, although we

Native Government^ Laws^ &c, 103

reminded the former that there was no need
for any palaver, and that the natives were
only humbugging him. This poor excited
individual arranged all in his own mind,
and, I have no doubt, meant to impress us
with his worth, and to show us what a
force of armed slaves he had at command
when necessary. For, no sooner had
Antonio (whom he had called in to
settle the palaver) given him authority —
Mancaca Biobi naturally taking to his
heels — than striking an attitude he shouted,
'' To arms, to arms, slaves, and at
him ! "

Surprised w^e certainly were, and we sat
in our chairs with our mouths open, not
having been invited to bring our arms
with us, and not seeing the force of his
appeal to arms ; since, according to native
law, they were bound to hand over
Mancaca, when once judgment had

104 Seven Years among the Fjoi't.

been given against him. Imagine our
disgust at seeing a white man behave
thus weakly. His brave slaves came
back with the news that there were
five or six hundred armed niggers lying
hid in the long grass and bushes
round about. Disgust was now^ a mild
term to apply to our indignation. We were
doomed to still further humiliation.
Antonio stepped forward and assured
the trader that there was no danger:
that he would hand over the prisoner.
This he quickly did. Whereupon the
trader embraced Antonio, called him his
friend, preserver, and what not, and turn-
ing to the murderer, who was now handed
over to him, assured him that he would
not hurt him, and that he w^ould be kindly
and properly treated. He then gave mata-
bixos to the different princes, to soothe
their angry passions.

Native Government^ Lazus, &c. 105

About this time there was a dispute
between the French and Portuguese as to
the exact position of 5° 12' Lat. S., and we
were honoured by a visit from the Secretary
General of Angola, who noticed the
prisoner, and, after a poor inquiry, took it
upon himself to release him, on condition
that he would pay the trader a certain sum.
With one accord all the traders marched
down to the said trader's house, and gave
him such a rowing in the very presence of
the Secretary General, that he felt obliged
to apologize to us for not having con-
sulted us in the matter. The Secretary
General also expressed his regret at having
released so great a scoundrel. To add to
our wrath two days after this we were
officially informed that, as Landana was
south of 5° 12' Lat. S., the Portuguese had
no right to interfere in our questions, and
that we were considered /;/ statu quo

io6 Sjveii Yeai's among the Pjort.

until the result of the Berlin Conference
was known.

A few years ago a white man bought
some ground to build his factory upon.
There happened to be a native road
running right across it, by which the natives
had for years been accustomed to travel
down to the river to wash, and draw water
for drinking purposes. As soon as the
trader had built his house, he found it
inconvenient to have natives passing back-
wards and forwards through his yard, on
no business connected with his trade. He
therefore shut the road, fencing in his yard?
and making a new road, leading to nearly
the same spot, outside his fence. The
natives took umbrage at his action, and
bothered him on all possible occasions ;
until, at length, a prince, on his way to
some town, one or two days' journey dis-

Native Government ^ Laws, &c. 107

tant, warned him that if, on his return,
the old road was still shut, the natives
would open it by force, and prayed him
to open it. The trader gave the prince a
matabixo (a drink) and let him go, pro-
mising nothing.

On the prince's return the road was still
closed, so down he came with his badungo
and mancaca, followed by crowds of natives,
and opened the road by force ; killing the
trader and his two neighbours, who, side
by side, fought to the last, endeavouring
to save their comrade's life, and their
master's property from the maddened
savages.

Traders round about swore eternal ven-
geance against the prince, and his people,
and one put his threat into execution.
Having called the prince to meet him at a
certain spot for the supposed purpose of
holding a palaver, he led a handful of armed

io8 Seven Years among the Fj or t.

slaves over hill and through swamp until,
crossing a swiftly-flowing river, he came to
the appointed place, an island in a swamp.
As soon as the natives saw arms they
divined his purpose and attacked him.
He, however, bent on vengeance, took
deliberate aim at the prince, and never
budged till he saw him fall ; then, with
three men wounded, he made for his canoe,
running the gauntlet of the infuriated
heathens' fire, as he paddled his way up
stream once more, to regain the solitary
landing on the other side of the mangrove-
wooded river.

The Fjort divides his year into two
seasons, the season of rain, and the season
of sun, each of which, he divides into three :
massanganga, nsasu, eamdi (October to
March), the season of rain; quitombo,
quibiso, quimbangala (March to October),
the season of sun. But he also divides

Native Government^ Laws, &c. 109

the year into twelve lunar months ; the
first month being September.

Each of the months is divided into two
ngonda ntomba, ngonda maisa, the moon
of darkness, and the moon of light.

Their week contains four days, ton,
seelo, son, 'nkando. The women are not
supposed to work in the fields on the fourth
day.

1 1 o Seven Years among the Fjorl.

CHAPTER V.

THE LATE POLITICAL UPHEAVALS.

A visit from De Brazza — Description of the French
explorer — "A most agreeable man" — De Brazza's
treaties with the natives — Vandevelt — The traders
ignored by the Congo Association — Action of the
French— Lieutenant Harou — The Dutch Trading
Company— Fleecing the African International
Association — Captain Grant Elliott — The German
Expedition under Dr. Giissfeldt — High-handed
action of the Portuguese — The British Trader and
the British Government — " Our Country " appro-
priated by the busybodies at Berlin — An insult to
France — Burning a witch — French the official
language of the Congo Free State — " All Greek "
to the natives.

One day our kind old doctor, as good and
jolly a Frenchman as ever stepped, and
a man who has made his name an

The late Political Upheavals, 1 1 r

authority on all coast diseases, and is a
renowned naturalist, received a note from
De Brazza to say, that, after some fighting,
he had made his way to a town not far dis-
tant from Landana, and that he might be
expected in a day or two. Sure enough,
two or three days afterwards, we were
attracted by the shouts of "A white man !
A white man ! " and the cries proclaiming
the shocked modesty of the women, who
had chanced to catch sight of De Brazza
as he waded through the swamp behind
Chiloanoro. We had the honour of receivinor
him, and his dress certainly betokened the
explorer. A wretched helmet, a ragged
shirt, compasses, chronometers, pedometers,
and what not, slung from his neck,
shoulders, and waist, and a dirty piece of
flannel girded about his loins, completed
his toilet. How a fat old native trader, on
picking up the aforesaid piece of flannel,

1 1 2 Seven Years among the Fjort,

did giggle, and on my telling him that
many at home would give him a lot of
money for it as a curio, he carefully con-
cealed it in his shimbec or hut.

We could not persuade De Brazza to
have a bath, nor to change his clothes, so,
after having donned a very ragged pair of
explorer's pants and taken a cup of coffee,
he proceeded to present himself in
Landana.

Pleasant and affable, De Brazza gave us
the impression of being of an excitable
nature ; tall and sharp-featured, with a
quick eye, full of spirit and energy, he
certainly, although worn out at the time,
looked like a man able to push himself
along through endless difficulties. His
eccentricities we smiled at, and generally
concluded that he was a most agreeable
man, and as such wished him well. We
grinned when, a few months later, we read

The late Political Upheavals, 1 1 3

of his Makoko treaty, and laughed outright
when we read of a serious nation having
ratified it. Who is Makoko? we asked.
The natives told us he was a bush nigger.
Now we heard rumours that the French
meant to occupy Loango.

Vandeveldt passed us in hot haste on his
way to Loango to make treaties on behalf
of the ''African International Association."
As no one had taken the trouble to ex-
plain to us traders the real objects this
Association had in view, most of us
thought that it probably meant to become
a great trading concern, and as such we
opposed it.

Capt. Grant Elliott, one of Stanley's
lieutenants, was hourly expected to appear
on the coast somewhere near Loango, as
he had left Isangela nearly one hundred
days before.

Vandeveldt made any number of treaties

I

114 Seven Yea7^s among the Fjort.

with the natives ; but his ignorance of the
country and the proper authorities rendered
most of them void, so that the French,
quietly bringing their force and persuasion
to bear on the authorities, (although some
opposed them to the bitter end,) holding
money in the one hand, and arms in the
other (the former of which the natives
refused to accept, and the latter they were
unable to resist), took possession of Loango
and Ponte de Negro.

Suddenly a steamer appeared in Chilo-
ango, and forthwith began to discharge her
cargo on the beach. Lieutenant Harou,
a Belgian officer, now made his appearance
on behalf of the A. I. A., and being in every
way an affable and agreeable man, and
having given us his word of honour that
the A. LA. was not a trading concern,
although Mr. Gillis, their business agent,
had commenced trading, (presumably on

TJie late Political Upheavals. 1 1 5

his own account,) up the Congo, we gave
him hospltahty, and stored his cargo for him.

He made treaties with the princes ot
Chlloango and Chlnchonso, helped and
assisted by most of the traders resident
there ; and, after some prehmlnarles had
been arranged, decided to build himself a
station at Chlnchonzo (once the depot of
the German expedition under Drs. Guss-
feldt and Falkenstein).

Matchlta, the heir to Mambuko and
petra prala of that place, having ceded
him a splendid site, and the princes, ac-
cording to custom, having received their
matablxos, all was In order. But here
Antonio Thiaba da Costa, as the husband
of Samana, the Queen of Chlnchonso, Inter-
fered.

Antonio, once the table-bov of a Portu-
guese, who had taken the trouble to teach
him how to read and write, is the son ol a
I 2

1 1 6 Seven Years among the Fjort,

native petty prince of Condi, a district
some few miles in the interior behind
Massabe. He used his knowledge to push
himself forward and to amass "slaves"
and '' vestiduras," and became the great
friend of a prince in Massabe, who eventu-
ally died, and left him his wealth. From a
washer-man he became a boat-boy, and, at
last, an under clerk in the Dutch Trading
Company. Here he distinguished himself
by keeping the '^ Company ^' in constant
palavers and questions with the natives ;
and the Company, instead of turning the
scamp out of their employ before he had
attained such power, seemed to fear to do
so. On the contrary, they kept on backing
him up, and helping him forward, vainly
imagining that by so doing they would
eventually gain supreme power over the
district, and make him a sort of dictator to
whom all kings should bow down and pay

The late Potitical Upheavals. 1 1 7

homage. Thus, In time Antonio married
Samana, and, as her husband, really ruled
the district, and became the tyrant and
barbarian that he Is. What the Dutch
house spent In pushing this fellow forward,
and lost while he was In charge of their
stores, is best known to themselves, and
after all they have done for him, how dis-
gusted they must indeed feel now that he is
acknowledged as their most bitter enemy.
Antonio brought his influence to bear
upon Samana, and the princes, telling
them that Matchita, the rightful heir to
Mambuko, had sold them, and their country
to the French. Lieut. Harou spoke French,
unfortunately, and the recent questions
in Loango, and Ponte de Negro also gave
a semblance of truth to Antonio's charge.
The princes, and chiefs therefore requested
Harou to retire from their country.
Harou wisely consented, although, accord-

1 1 8 Seven Yeai^s among the Fjort.

ing to native law, he had the right to
remain in possession of the site legally
ceded to him. Knowing the brute we
had to deal w^ith, we advised Harou to
arrange a meeting with Antonio at his
house. This he did. He quite won the
hearts of the natives by retiring so quietly
from Chinchonso, thus almost proving to
them, that he did not wish to take their
country from them as the French had done
at Loango. All he had now to do, was to
get to the weak side of Antonio. He
visited him at his house at Mandarillia,
and, after a jolly breakfast — during which
Antonio brought out, and drank the wines
received as presents, and probably bribes,
from Harou's enemies, the Portuguese —
the latter promised, (after having received
many presents), to arrange a site for him
at Massabe : thus all was apparently
arranged. Not yet. The princes round

The late Political Upheavals. 1 1 9

about Massabe, having heard of the action
of Antonio and the princes at Chinchonso,
could not quite understand Antonio's
anxiety to establish Harou at Massabe.
Therefore they refused to permit him to
build, unless Sala Ki Sala, as a trader and
old acquaintance of theirs, would go bail
for the A. I. A. Consequently, down they
came to him, and, though hewas laid up with
a slight fever, induced him to sign a treaty
drawn up by Harou, stating the conditions
upon which the latter was to be allowed to
build at Massabe. The trader was to go
bond for the good behaviour of the A.I. A. 's
ofhcers and people. Sala Ki Sala signed it
and explained to them that the A. I. A. was
a philanthropic association which had come
to open out the country, not to take it from
them, and to protect them in their rights
from the unjust Portuguese, and French,
who were robbing their country.

1 20 Seven Years auiong the Fjort.

Soon the princes of Massabe were
feasting upon the exorbitant customs, and
presents exacted from the A. I. A., and
those of Chinchonso began to scratch
their heads, and wonder how they had
allowed Antonio to make such fools
of them in rejecting so good a white
man as Harou appeared, especially
after all Matchita's and Sala Ki Sala's
advice.

Thus matters prospered with the A. I. A.
Captain Grant Elliott had founded his
stations in the Quilo, connecting that
river with Isangela, and Harou had made
his clever and rapid journey from
Massabe to Manyanga, supplied by
Antonio Thiaba da Costa with interpreters
and as many carriers as he chose to take.
To prove that these journeys were no easy
matter let us refer to the German ex-
pedition at Chinchonso. After Dr. Giiss-

o ^

< "7^

The late Political Upheavals, 1 2 1

feldt had explored part of the Quilo in
1873, had gone thirty miles up the Lo-
ango Luz, had made an expedition up the
Nyanga river, had reached a point only
sixty miles in the interior in 1874, and
had planned a further expedition in 1875,
he was obliged to return to Europe on
account of ill-health, and the forlorn
condition of his native bearers brought
from Loanda. Thus, an expedition
planned to penetrate the interior of
the continent from this region, had not
been able to accomplish in three years
what Harou did in as many months with
the help of the country people.

Shortly after this, it was given out
that the Portuguese intended founding
a mission at Chinchonso, and that the
French meant to occupy Landana. The
traders, noticing the excitement these
reports created among the natives, and

12 2 Seven Years among the Fjort.

knowing that the unsettled state of
affairs meant loss of trade, if not danger
to life and property, determined to amal-
gamate, and, (getting the natives to hand
over their territory and rights to them,)
protest against any occupation or inter-
ference on the part of any foreign power.
But, before time had been given them, a
Portuguese man-of-war appeared, and
the commander, (having commissioned a
well-known Portuguese trader to assemble
the natives together, and get to the
better side of Antonio Thiaba da Costa,
who was made much of at this time),
issued invitations, an hour or two before
the appointed time for the meeting, to the
different traders to attend the palaver to
which they (the Portuguese) stated the
natives had invited them. With the ex-
ception of three, all the traders refused the
invitation.

The late Political Upheavals. I23
No written invitation was given to the
commander of H.M.S. Flirt, then at
anchor off Landana, to '' watch and
report," (not to protect the weak from
being humbugged or to look after the
Interest of the British trader and trade).
But, the commander, accompanied by
Sala KI Sala, bent on paying the good
doctor and his charming wife a visit,
having to pass the house where the
Portuguese officers were all collected on
the verandah, felt himself compelled to
enter and bid them good-day, lest he should
offend their susceptibilities. While there he
received an informal Invitation to attend,
which he refused ; although he stated that
he might look in upon them, as he would
like to see a palaver from a distance.
He did watch the natives assemble from
a distance, but left them almost as soon
as the proceedings had really commenced.

124 Seven Years among the Fjort.

The Portuguese commander jumped
at the chance of belnor able to make
mention of the presence of the EngHsh
commander, and the representative of an
important EngHsh trading house in the pre-
amble to the treaty. He took great care,
however, not to allow the trader to protest
against a treaty that he considered illegal,
because Landana was south of lat. 5° 12',
and thus within the neutral territory ;
and unjust, because it had not been
properly explained to the natives.
Further he added his protest against the
misuse of his name after having received
the promise of the Portuguese delegado
not to mix him up in any w^ay in the
affair.

A greater piece of humbug than this
treaty of Chimfuma never existed. One
Mamwella Bemba, of Tenda, signed for
numerous princes of Kacongo, and Antonio

The late Political Upheavals. 125

Thiaba da Costa for mcinv of the Loangfo
princes.

The French would have protested had
they not imagined that the British man-of-
war was present for that purpose.

The Portuguese trader who had as-
sembled the natives was created a Vis-
conte, and his head negro, mafuca of
Landana, while Antonio Thiaba da Costa
was made captain in the Portuguese army,
and sub-delegate of the Portuguese
Government in Massabe.

The Portuguese took possession of
Landana, although we strangers refused to
acknowledge their authority, much to our
inconvenience, until after the decision of
the Berlin Conference became known.

We heard of a kind of treaty having
been made between the King of the Bel-
gians and the French with respect to the
future sale of the i\.I.A. stations, while the

I 26 Seven Years among the Fjort.

officers of the Association were fighting
their best against French oppression In the
QuUo district and elsewhere. Then all
was confusion, until those busybodles at
Berlin, by what right nobody knows,
divided our country, giving France so
much because she was strong enough to
take It If they refused her, and taking so
much from Portugal because she was weak ;
besides creating a childish and puerile
state to undertake the government of a
country that it has neither the experience
nor the money to carry on.

Thus the trader's day Is over, so far as
his endeavours to enable an intelligent
race to govern themselves Is concerned,
but his work will live for ever, and he can
pride himself on having, through his in-
dustry, patience, and pluck lifted up his
black brother's country from a state of
barbarity and slavery to such a state of ripe-

The late Political Upheavals. i2j

ness that it has become the envy of those
grasping robbers and land-grabbers who
have now so ruthlessly snatched the country
from its rightful owners.

How many traders have sacrificed their
lives in their steady endeavours to open
out this country to commerce without hope
of reward, is of course of no moment ; they
being neither missionaries nor travellers.
But I think their services demand the
greatest consideration from the powers that
are set over them to govern these territories,
and that our Government, especially, should
see that our consular service is regulated
so that our interests are not so shamefully
neglected as they hitherto have been. Is
it right, I ask, that a government like the
Portuguese should be allowed to set a brute
like Thiaba da Costa in authority over us ?
Short though the time has been that he has
held authority, he has given us a proof of

128 Seven Vears among the Fjort.

his terrible barbarity, and the gross and
wilful blindness of his government. Some
prisoners at Chinchonso were sent out
to cut firewood for the use of the station,
underthe guard of an armed sentry. Instead
of chopping sticks, however, the prisoners
chopped the guard's head off, as he lay
asleep under the shade of some tree or
other, and made their escape. After some
time Antonio secured one of theseprisoners,
and had him safely conducted to Chiloango.
At a Portuguese house on the north bank
of the river he shamefully illtreated his
prisoner. While crossing the river he
amused himself by cutting off the prisoner's
fingers, and on his arrival at the south side
commenced to saw off his ear, but was
prevented by two Dutch traders, who
protested to the Portuguese Delagadowho
was present, against such barbarity being
committed in their presence. The prisoner

■I -.>:i::i(^

The late political Upheavals. 129

was removed to the prison in Lan-
dana.

An old man named Petra Praia, together
with other princes, had been called by
Antonio Thiaba da Costa as repre-
sentative of the Portuguese Government,
in the handing over of a factory, and
business to a new Portuguese Company.
Antonio was a bitter enemy of Petra Praia
(minister of marine), and, knowing that
crocodiles were considered by the natives as
witches, called for his rifle, when he caught
a sight of one, saying, *' Ah ! there goes
Petra Praia, seeking whom he may devour,"
and shot at it three or four times. Petra
Praia immediately repudiated the insinua-
tion Antonio had brought forward, and
offered to undergo the test of cassia
to prove his innocence. " You shall,"
Antonio cried, and immediately com-
missioned his brother to see that he,

K

1 30 Seven Years among the Fjort,

Petra Praia, did not get out of it. That
night Petra Praia died.

Soon after this Antonio began to lose
his eyesight, and immediately, so I am told,
called the neighbouring princes together
and demanded from them the witch who was
causing his blindness. Antonio mentioned
his name and said that they were to kill
him by putting his eyes out with a pair of
scissors and afterwards to burn him. By the
interposition of some traders this barbarity
was averted. Such is the character of this
arch traitor whom Portugal delighteth to
honour.

A French sergeant, on his way down
country, was much horror-struck at
noticing the natives busily employed burn-
ing a witch, and nobly (but altogether
foolishly) endeavoured to release the culprit.
He was promptly defeated in his purpose
and wounded, and had to retire to a neigh-

TJie late political Upheavals. 131

bouring and friendly village. The French
commander at Loango attempted to
avenge this insult to France, but taking
too small a force with him for the purpose
was entirely beaten. The natives now
closed all the trade roads, and the French,
instead of carrying the war they had
commenced to the end, and inflicting a
severe punishment on the natives, craved
the assistance of the traders to use their
influence with the natives and have their
trade roads opened. Finally the French
commander paid one or two thousand
dollars to the natives of M'buko, who at
last opened the roads.

The Congo Free State is amusing itself
by sending out circulars, orders, and tariffs,
and by pasting up endless notices on a
blackboard they have established in Boma ;
but, as all is written in French, nobody
profits much by their labours. I suggest

K 2

1 3 2 Seven Years amonor the Fjort.

that they should at least translate the
penalties they are determined to inflict
upon us, and the natives, into some more
busmess-like language, for very few of us
understand French.

Traders — White and Black, i x ->

CHAPTER VI.

TRADERS — WHITE AND BLACK.

Description of a Factory— Terms of trade — A Native
Commission Agent — " Society " on the Coast —
Various classes of traders — ^Morality of traders —
Their daily life — Scarcity of billiard-tables — How
trade is done.

The south-west coast of Africa is thinly
dotted here and there with traders' stations,
called factories. A factory generally con-
sists of a block of buildings constructed,
either of rushes neatly sewn together, with
roofs of thatch, composed of the dried
leaves of the bamboo, or of bamboos, and
planks, with roofs of felt or corrugated,
galvanized iron. The dwelling-house con-
tains dining-room, two or three sleeping

1 34 Seven Yem^s among the Fjort.

apartments, and the feteich or shop. The
big store for stowing rum and merchandise
received from home and the produce col-
lected for shipment home, the oil-shed
and palm kernel measuring-room, the
kitchen, washhouse, bath-rooms, powder-
house, and dispensary complete the
factory.^

Every place has its peculiar mode of
buying trade. In some places such terms
as guns and moquitas are used to repre-
sent certain values, in others, guns alone ;
in some, longs or cortados, in others,
dollars. In some large credits are given to
those who are supposed to be trustworthy
native traders, and who go into the bush or
interior and either buy trade or procure
it for the white man to buy. The native
trader prefers generally to act as a
commission agent ; that is to say, he
likes to spend the monev you trust him

Tradt rs — WIi ite and Black . 135

with In playing the great man and throw-
ing all his credit away in drinks, which he
stands to his friends, thus procuring their
trade for his white man. He then sells
this procured trade to his white man for
as much as he can get, not letting his
friends know exactly what price he has
obtained. Next he pays his friends the
price agreed between them and '' chops "
the remainder ; after which he has the
cheek to expect the white man to give
him a big present or commission and
another credit that he may again return
to the bush. A trader, therefore, has many
things to take into consideration before
fixing his price for produce, which depends
upon the peculiarities of the trade and
position of his factory.

( With the exception of an odd missionary
or traveller, and one or two doctors,
society on the coast is entirely composed

i3<3 Seven Years among the Fj or t.

of traders, though of course now we shall
have French, Portuguese, and Congo
government officials to add to itj

There are five or six classes of traders.
These include the trader who, as owner of
all his stations, trades direct with Europe ;
and the trader who, owning a factory, has
not sufficient capital to trade direct with
Europe, and consequently sells his produce
for merchandise or money on the coast.

The agent representing one of the large
companies.

The sub-agent^ director of a district
under the supervision of the agent.

The trader in charge of a factory in
such a district and his assistant trader.

The life of the trader is generally under-
stood to be as free as it is immoral.
This is a great mistake, for he is by no
means free, and certainly his life is not
so immoral as that led by young England

Traders — White and Black. 137

at home. Many, it is true, not being
allowed by their Principals to take out
wives, marry black women according to
the native law, which conveniently allows
them to put their wives away at any time if
they do not behave themselves. The trader,
who cannot take out his wife, the choice of
leading a moral life thus not being given to
him, oftentimes chooses that which he thinks
the least immoral, and, compromising his
dignity, marries a negress. On the other
hand, he has to be extremely careful in his
actions, so as always to be able to hold his
superiority to the negro in matters of truth,
justice, patience, and general behaviour, and
on no account to allow a native the chance of
proving him guilty of any offence unworthy
the bearing of a white man.

As a rule he is busy from 6 a.m. to
6 p.m., and after dinner, which he takes
about 7 p.m., passes the rest of his time

138 Seven Yem^s among the Fjort.

in either reading or writing. I think
there are three biUiard-boards, some sixty
or eighty miles apart, on the south-west
coast, between Gaboon and Boma, and
these are the only amusement he possesses.
Having no games of any sort, save an occa-
sional game of cards ; no music, except at
the missions or when some one happens to
play the banjo, zither, or other instrument
in his possession ; no theatres, no dances,
no ladies, — the trader passes his time as
best he can.

A native will come to the white trader,
and say, " Massa, me live for go for him
bush." '^ All right, Swarmi, I wish you good
luck.'* Swarmi retires and seeks the white
man's head man, asking him to explain to
the white man that he wishes to go to the
bush to procure trade for him. If the head
man knows him to be a scamp, he will tell
him to go about his business, unless he is

Traders — White and Black. 1 3 9

afraid of some evil happening to him if he
does not help Swarmi, or if he is indebted to
some relation of his. In that case the head
man will bring him to his master, and tell
him that Swarmi is a trustworthy man, and
wishes the white man to give him a '^ dis-
patch," so that he may go to the bush to
fetch him plenty of trade.

'* Wait a bit," says the white man, and
Swarmi goes away again for another half-
hour, and in the meantime the head man
will come and tell his white man that '' dem
Swarmi, he be no fit now." Then the
white man meets Swarmi, as if by accident,
and tells him that he is sorry that he can-
not trust him, but that his nose is not the
right shape, or his leg is crooked, or his
skin is too black, any excuse will do so
long as the trader does not let Swarmi
know that the head man has told his true
character.

i/\o Seven Years among the Fjort.

But if, on the other hand, Swarmi is re-
spectable, the trader will probably ask him
what he wants to take with him to the bush.

'' Oh ! 20 demijohns, 20 bundles of fish,
20 sacks salt, 20 guns, 20 barrels powder,
20 plates, 20 spoons, 20 mugs, 20 brass
rods, 20 padlocks, and 200 longs cloth."

" Is that all, Swarmi?"

'' Tink so, massa."

''All right, wait a bit."

Swarmi now has to pass an hour or two
without getting a chance of fairly tackling
the white man, who avoids him as much
as possible. At the end of this period the
trader accosts Swarmi, as if he had never
seen him.

" Well, Swarmi, what is it you want ? '

*' Dispatch, massa."

'' Yes ; how much ? "

" Ten, ten, massa.'

''Well, I'll give you one, one.''

Traders — White and Black. 141

" No fit, massa."

*' Very well, clear out."

But Swarmi does not clear out, and
perhaps after two days' persistent begging
the trader eventually dispatches him.
Swarmi then gets into his canoe, (for
however drunk a negro is he always
can get into a canoe,) and begins
belabouring his niggers, brothers, or
relatives, for no apparent purpose.
Finally, all being arranged, cargo stowed,
and paddles ready, the canoe is shoved
out into mid-stream ; but Swarmi stops
his friends to tell them that they have for-
gotten to unfurl their flags. Now, with
fiags flying, the canoe is once more pro-
pelled forward, and no sooner do the
paddles touch the water than all commence
to sing ; Swarmi joins in, and getting
lively, leaves his position in the stern,
where he had been steering the canoe.

142 Seven Years aino7ig the Fjort.

rushes forward, picks up his gun and fires it
into the air, turns the canoe round, and
comes back again to the factory. These
antics he repeats three or four times, and at
last disappears round the turning in the
river, and for two or three months is seen
no more. He will travel day and night at
the rate, perhaps, of fifteen miles a day, until
at last he has reached a spot up the river as
near as possible to the villages of his friends
the bushmen, who own the produce he is
anxious to secure.

His friends, perhaps, are expecting him,
and a right good welcome they will give
him. He then sets about buying or pro-
curing the trade which his friends have
ready ; here, perhaps, he will bargain
for a canoe full of oil, there a hole
of kernels, and so on, until his rum and
goods are finisheav: he will then set about
making matets (or baskets made by plait-

Traders — White and Black. 143

ing the leaves of a branch of the palm-
tree together), place his oil and kernels
therein, and then set about arranmns:
carriers to take the produce thus collected
to the place where he left his canoe.
Gradually he fills the canoe, and then,
dirty and careworn, he returns to the trader.
Having arrived, the first thing he does is
to show himself to the white man, and
point out to him the dirty state of his
clothes and person by way of impressing
him with the hard time he has had of it.
Then he asks him, for the sake of heaven,
to give him a new cloth and a wee bit of
soap. The trader gives this to him if he
sees the trade Swarmi has brought will
cover it. Then Swarmi, having washed,
wants his drink and rations, which the
trader gives in proportion to the quan-
tity of trade he has for sale. After as
much bother, as it is possible for a native

1 44 Seven Years among the Fjort.

to give a white man, has been put up with,
the trader gets savage, and insists on
Swarmi measuring his trade : this done,
the trader gives him a cheque for the value.
Swarmi then goes to the shop, and takes
w^hat he requires as payment for his friends,
reserving his own part and the present or
commission the trader may give him for
another day. Should Swarmi require
another dispatch, the trader will probably
give him one in proportion to the trade
sold.

145

CHAPTER VII.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A FJORT.

First impressions of the natives — Difficulty of under-
standing their strange customs and ways — Matchita
tells his own story — Childhood and youth — Betting
customs — Curious methods of discovering a thief
— Killed for imprisoning a washerman— Native
marriage customs — An accusation of witchcraft —
A witch poisoned, stabbed, and burnt — Native
disputes about land — Funeral customs, and pomp
of a native funeral — Curious custom in connection
with the killing of a leopard.

Let Matchita, a native prince, describe
his customs and habits to you briefly.
He is an African, and will tell you that
though '' he look dem God plenty, he^no
find Him yet anyhow ; fashion for white
man no be fashion for black man ; white

L

140 Seven Years among the Fjort.

man he be all same God, white man he
die, God he no die, dats all. Massa he
call me d — d nigger, but he speak too
much, me no be nigger, me be son for
prince and me live for tell you all dem
fashion for black man, he sabby tief too
much, he drink too much, he hab plenty
witch."

Such is the Information concerning
native ideas that you are likely to gather
from any native during the first few
months of your sojourn in his country : his
cringing, or should I say obliging nature is
too ready to satisfy all your inquiries ; he
is ready to call himself thief, drunkard, or
anything else that is vile, if by so doing
he may please the white man whom he
considers all powerful and rich, and whom
he makes his study. Is the white man a
trader he will talk to him of trade ; a
missionary, he will speak of God ; a soldier.

Autobiography of a Fjovt. 147

of war; and so on. Thus, except by
patient observance through long residence
in their country, it is impossible for a white
man to give any satisfactory account of
their strange ways, and even then, for one
unaccustomed as I am to writing, it is
difficult to impart that knowledge to
others. Perhaps if we try to recount the
probable life of a native from his babyhood,
or suppose him to be giving us some account
of himself, we may learn something about
him.

matchita's story. ^

I was earning my living by cleaning the
knives and forks, and plates and spoons,
in fact by being general fag to Mr.

S , having entered that gentleman's

employ at the same time as Antonio

Thiaba da Costa, a boy a little younger

than myself, whose father (a capitre or

L 2

1 4.8 Seven Years among the Fjort,

prince of an inland town, and a relation of
my mother's,) had brought him down with
his trade and handed him over to my
master, who was to teach him sense, or in
other words to educate him. I being the
grand nephew of old Mambuko, second
cousin of the reigning Mambuko of Chin-
chonso, and heir apparent, and older than
Antonio, was considered in every way his
superior and elder.

I shall never forget what fun we used to
have as children together, and the trouble
we gave both the white man and the
steward, nearly driving them both mad.
Antonio was a bonny-looking lad, and he
soon picked up the white man's tongue,
and so became a favourite and left me
far behind. The white man taught him
to read and write a little, and as Antonio
was full of ambition he made the utmost
use of his little knowledge and ingratiated

Autobiography of a Fjort. 149

himself with a certain powerful prince,
who became his protector. I never then
imagined that Antonio would become my
bitterest enemy, although I could not
forgive him for having shot ahead of me,
his elder, and he could not forget that I
was his superior in birth and age.

One day our master got up in a terrible
rage ; he had been suffering from fevers
and other coast diseases for the last six
months off and on, which had not improved
his temper. He blew everybody up, and
after having thrashed and bumped most of
his servants, he finally vented his spleen
upon his steward, whom he chicotted.

''What's all this for?" asked the
steward.

" You know, you black thief."
'' Thief ! you call me a thief ? "
*' Yes ;" and here our master re-
peated the thrashing.

1 50 Seven Years among the Fjort.

The steward rushed out of the dining-
room howHng, called both Antonio and
myself beastly thieves, and administered
justice or palmatory upon us at once. I
objected to being called a thief, so the
steward challenged me to pass the ordeal
of the hot knife to prove my innocence.
I agreed to do so, and he left me in
peace.

I now set to work to gather together
all my possessions that I might make
a bet with the steward w^orthy of the
occasion. I had many small but valuable
articles, which I knew it would take the
steward all his time to match ; for it is
our custom when we make a bet to stake
our little all, and as, before the ordeal can
be gone through, the bets on both sides
have to equal one another, it was my
object to procure some article that the
steward could not match, as he would

AiitobiograpJiy of a Fjort. 151

then have to place down its equivalent in
money or goods, its value being stated by
myself.

Having once accused me, the steward
could not back out of his bet without
losing the palaver, and thus becoming sub-
ject to endless bullying from all my power-
ful relations, until eventually he would have
become their slave, while if he went on
with the question he felt certain that, as he
could not make his bet equal in value to
mine, he would, in the event of my proving
my innocence, and thus winning my bet,
become my dependent or '' vestidura."

The head mian having suffered also from
the consequences of my master's wrath was
flying about the yard like a madman,
swearing at every one he met. Our master
proceeded to the kitchen and made the cook
count all his pots and utensils, but finding
the number correct could only give him a

1 5 2 Seven Years among the Fjo7't,

thrashing for not keeping them cleaner.
Then, passing on to the sheep-pen, pig-
sties and fowl-house, he appeared delighted
to find one sheep, a lot of pigs, and two or
three fowls missing. Jack fowl (the herd
or fowl-keeper) had quite a gay time of
it for the rest of the day, and having let out
that he thought the town people were
given to stealing, his master determined to
prove the truth, and therefore sent to call
the surgeon, who was to bring the feteich
M'bialli Mundembi along with him. The
ambassador, with the gallon of rum and one
bottle of gin for the surgeon or nganga, and
one long or six yards of blue baft and one
gallon of rum for the feteich M'bialli Mun-
dembi, having been formally despatched, we
all knew what to expect, and began to exa-
mine our inner selves if peradventure we
were mixed up in any way. That night
two factory servants took to their heels.

Autobiography of a Fjort. 153

The next morning our master had
become himself again, and I think seemed
sorry that he had gone to such extremities.
However, the surgeon or nganga appeared
soon after daybreak, and after having re-
ceived his drink retired to a sequestered spot
and commenced divining. His boy of course
arranged all preliminaries, such as sweeping
the ground and placing the drink near at
hand. The nganga then sat him down
upon his mat, and having described the
chequered figure before him with his finger,
placed his little sticks in position and then
commenced to rub the palm of one hand
against that of the other: after this he
changed the position of the little pieces of
sticks, then rubbed his hands together
again, until at last his hands refused to
meet, but -would cross one another, the
palm of the one hand objecting to kiss the
palm of the other. The nganga smiled

1 54 Seven Years among the Fjort.

and serenely helped himself to a drink.
He then resorted to another means of
discovering the culprit. In each hand he
held a wisp of straw, which he placed on
the ground so that the extremities, furthest
from the ends he held, might touch, and
overlap one another. A small boy then
placed himself across the straw ; the surgeon
next tried to lift the boy from the ground,
but no, each hand brought the wisp
from under the boy ; again and again he
tried. At last, on trying once more, up
came the boy, the straw forming a kind of
belt around his body. After one more
complacent draught he went up to where
our master was sitting, and told him that
if he would be good enough to pay him he
would tell him the names of the culprits.
The master paid him, and the nganga then
told him that there were three implicated
in the theft, and mentioned the two who had

Atttobiography of a FjoiH. 155

run away, and one who had determined
to brave it out by staying in the factory.
Our master now called M'bialli Mundembi,
and dared the last named culprit to eat
mandioco out of his mouth. The servant
did not dare to do so, and prayed and
beseeched his master to forgive him, con-
fessing all. His owner, for he was a
slave, had to arrest the other two thieves,
and all three, according to law, became my
master's slaves.

Now came my turn : the nganga had
already commenced heating his terrible
knife, and soon the house servants were to
undergo this never-failing ordeal.

The knife was now almost white hot, and
the steward was called to hold out his leg;
this he did at once, and then the surgeon
three times slowly passed the knife up and
dowm, along the calf of his leg. The steward
did not flinch, being confident of his inno-

156 Seven Years among the Fjort.

cence. Then came my turn, then Antonio's,
and I noticed that he appeared rather ner-
vous and seemed to shudder as the scorching
blade passed up and down his leg. The
next morning Antonio had a bHster on his
calf, and was immediately taken to our
master, who chastised him severely, though
as I afterwards heard him say, when relat-
ing all, to his friends at table, that he was
sure he did not know what the lad had
stolen — a few lumps of sugar, he supposed,
or something of the sort. The steward
became my dependent orvestidura. Thus,
with such experiences, my early youth
passed, and many healthy lessons was I
taught that I have not even yet for-
gotten. My poor old master was eventually
killed by the natives.

He had ''tied up" a '' jack-w^ash," or
washerman of his, whom he had discovered
stealing, and had sent word to his relation^

Atttobiography of a Fjort. 157

and the princes of a neighbouring town.
The whole town seemed dehghted at the
prospect of a palaver with my master,
whom they detested for having ill-treated
some of them. Down came the princes to
the factory, a noisy crowd at their heels, but
were met on the road by my master's head
man, who insisted on the rabble staying
outside his fence, the pnnces only being
allowed to advance to settle the palaver.
This was agreed to, and the princes
marched forward and majestically bid my
master '^ good day," took their chairs,
received their drink, and awaited the head
man to open the palaver. Instructed by
my master, he did so. He told them how
such and such articles w^ere missing, that
they had been handed over to the washer-
man and that he had not returned them,
and, in consequence, was put in chains
until he or his relatives chose to pay for

158 Seven Years among the Fjort.

the missing articles. The princes, accord-
inof to the usual formula, declared the
white man to be just and right, but blamed
him for taking the law into his own hands,
by not having first sent an ambassador to
them, acquainting them with the theft, etc.,
and asked him to release the prisoner. He
refused to do so, and the mob outside,
hearing of his decision, moved forward. My
master, boiling over with rage at their
attempt to come into his factory, called for
his guns, handed one to his patrao or boat-
man, who was near at hand, and marched
to meet the crowd. Now Sambo, the boat-
man, was related to the washerman, and
did not like my master, though my master
thought him a most devoted servant, so,
hardly had he advanced ten paces, when
Sambo shot my master from behind.
With his dying breath the white man ordered
his slaves to kill the Jack-wash, and his

AiitobiograpJiy of a Fj'orL 159

orders were promptly executed. Then
followed riot and confusion, and all my
master's property was destroyed. The
white men not having as yet taken their
revenge, the event cannot be forgotten.

I had now acquired the knowledge of
the v\"hite man and his ways necessary to
become a trader, and my father or others
took me for a few years with them when they
went to the bush to procure trade, so that
I might in time secure friends in the bush,
and eventually become a trader myself.

My brother had been taken away by my
uncle to be initiated into the offices of
" nganga," and was taught a different and
particular language, which no one but the
nganga s were allowed ever to learn. He
could not, and never would, speak the
white man's tongue well, not having
been apprenticed to one of them, and thus
would never be able to hold any position

1 60 Seven Years mnong the Fjort.

in his service, if, indeed, his duties ever
allowed him to do so.

One of my sisters had been selected as
the wife of a neighbouring prince, and was
therefore being well looked after. As soon
as she arrived at the age of puberty
she would be placed in the '^ paint house,"
painted red, and undergo a certain opera-
tion and special treatment, after which the
prince, on making a certain payment to
my parents, would marry her. My other
sister, not having been bespoken, would
undergo the same treatment in the "paint
house," after which the women would con-
duct her to the different towns round
about, when any eligible young or old man
might, on a certain payment, try her, and,
not caring for her, pass her on to his
neighbour or other, who would pay her and
keep her in return for her services as his
mistress and domestic.

Autobiography of a Fjort. i6i

It was before I had been circumcised
that my brother Tembo died.

I remember being attracted by screams
from my mother.

'' Mame, oh, mame, tati, oh, tati "
(mother, mother, father, father), '' he has
called me a witch," shrieked my . mother.
'*0h, my brother, did you hear him? did
you hear him, oh Macosso ? my husband
has called me a witch, a witch ! a witch ! oh,
Macthita, my son, did you hear him, your
father, call me a witch ? "

"Yes, mother," I said, "poor Tembo is
dead, Swarmi and Pango have gone before."

'* Yes," said my father, " Swarmi and
Pango died long ago, and little did I think
at the time that you had bewitched them.
Luemba, my brother, whom I suspected,
took cassia, but vomited ; my cousin
did the same, and you know how much I
spent in the vain attempt to discover the

M

1 62 Seven Years among the Fjort.

witch. Not satisfied with killing two, you
must now deprive me of my third son,
Tembo ; begone, you witch ! begone ! lest I
lose my last born Matchita."

'' I a witch ! I, Cammasi, the daughter of
Manibachi, a witch?" and my mother threw
herself upon the ground, tore her hair and
beat her breasts, and I believe would have
killed herself there and then, had not my
uncle sorrowfully taken her away to her
father's home. The report spread that
Cammasi had bewitched Tembo, and
whenever my mother went outside her
house she was avoided by men, women,
and children. In such an extremity there
was no help for her ; and as she herself
determined to take cassia, all preliminaries
were arranged. At this time, although I
loved my mother and naturally clung to her
in her distress, I no sooner understood
her to be a w^itch than I shrunk from her

A utobiography of a Fjo7't. 1 6 3

in fear and trembling. I liken my love to
that of a puppy to its mother, the master
beats the mother, and the puppy, not
feehng the lash but expecting it, crouches
down at his feet and licks his master's
hand. Thus, though I loved my mother,
once I heard her called a witch I w^as
cowed and by instinct flew to my father
for protection. The innate fear of being
myself considered a witch tore me from my
loving mother.

How well I remember my father calling
in the surgeon the night of Tembo's
death to divine who had bewitched him !

There lay my dead brother just as he
had died. The moon was shining brightly
through the grove of palm-trees that
lifted their lofty and graceful branches
above our little town ; each tree, each hut,
every gliding figure cast its long shadow
in the same direction ; the same uniform

M 2

164 Seven Years among the Fjort,

glimmer pervaded all : the stillness of
death reigned in Tembo's shimbec.
Suddenly the howls of grief, the shouts
of rage, the wailings of utter despair, the
whining and barking of countless dogs
rent the air, and the whole village, as one
man, aw^oke and joined the fanatic family
circle. The fear of unutterable and to
them unintelligible death reigned supreme.
The nganga soon had all that was
necessary on the spot — his nkiss, gilly-
gillies, his charms, paints, herbs, dye, and
mats, and there he remained for tw^o whole
days and nights guessing. He finally
decided that my mother w^as the witch
whose evil spirit had killed Tembo.

Tembo and mother had often quarrelled.
All these petty squabbles were now re-
membered by my father, and he heartily
agreed with the ''nganga." Bursting forth
into song, he related all that he remembered,

Autobiography of a Fjort. 165

accompanied by the nganga on the tum-a-
tum, and encouraged by the enraged crowd,
who clapped their hands in perfect time,
and occasionally, as father's narrative
flagged, sang a chorus, repeating some
incident already chanted.

Imagine my mother's feelings, knowing
herself innocent, and yet half convinced of
her guilt, as she fearfully looked back upon
some of her too well remembered quarrels !
Horror-struck at Tembo's death, she quite
realized her terrible position. Still, when
my father publicly called her a witch, all
her royal blood boiled with indignation and
she shrieked her protest.

But in the quiet of her own home she
communed with herself, and the more she
thought over her difficulties with Tembo,
the more she dreaded the fearful ordeal.
My mother, after three days' dreary fasting
was declared ready to take cassia.

1 66 Seven Years among the Fjort.

The nganga who was to administer the
cassia was one that had been summoned
from a town far distant, so that it might
be supposed he was quite impartial and
would deal fairly with all parties.

We took her to a little spot where I had
witnessed many a dance, a few hundred
yards away from the village, and sat her
down on a mat beneath the shadow of a
mighty baobab-tree. How dreadful all ap-
peared by night. There, close to the tree,
humbly knelt my mother. The surgeon, with
his horrid mask, ladled the noxious powder
with a wooden spoon into her mouth with
one hand, while in the other he held a bottle
of water, which he gave her to wash it down
her throat. The hideous mancaca, or
executioner, with his robes stretched out be-
hind him, stood pointing to thefeteich, before
w^hich my mother knelt, sword in hand.
Hush, she has swallowed the cassia. Why

Autobiography of a Fjort, 167

does not her stomach reject it ? Why
can she not vomit ? Three dreadful hours
pass while we, her relations, in horrible
suspense, watch the effect, the terrible
effect we hourly expect the accursed bark
may have. At length it comes. She
writhes, she screams, and the too horrible
result is visible to all. No sooner seen,
than the unearthly mancaca unmercifully
slays my mother, and the rabble with one
accord fall upon the witch with sticks and
knives. Then they draw her body round the
village, and burn her late dwelling, and
then leave the corpse to rot, her bones to
bleach and lie unburied, a ghastly warning
to all witches.

Thus died my mother. My youth passed
quickly away, employed as I was by my
father to go into the bush for him, to fetch
his trade and sell it. My father seemed
ever to be holding palavers, here, there,

1 68 Seven Years amo7ig the Fjort.

and everywhere ; many on his own account,
owing to the innumerable questions that
had arisen, consequent to mother's having
had to take cassia ; and many as a witness
in those of others, or as one of the
elders of the village and prince of the
land. In this way, being a shrewd
man, he amassed great w^ealth, more
especially in slaves and dependents or
vestiduras.

Having been well served by the woman
who had kept my shimbec for me during
the best part of a year, I resolved that as
soon as I could afford it, I would present
her parents with forty or fifty dollars, and
ask them to allow us to marry. It took
me four or five months' hard work, and
much travelling, to accumulate the sum, but
at last I had the satisfaction of not only
satisfying her parents, but of being able to
celebrate the event by giving a dance, to

Autobiography of a Fjort. 1 69

which I was able to invite many of the
neighbouring towns.

So long as I remained unmarried, the
woman could never settle down to planting.
Now, however, I left instructions with her
that she should purchase a piece of ground
and set to work. As an unmarried woman,
gaining so much a month for her services,
she could have left me at a moment's
notice, whereas, now, her relatives w^ould
have to return me all I had given them,
and a nigger or two on top, as an equivalent
for the expenses I had been put to in keep-
ing her in dress, etc., and in connection
with the marriage. I therefore felt more as
if I had a home worth caring for, and also
had the satisfaction of knowing that my
children would not be '' libraforas," but
legitimate heirs of my body.

Forced to go so often to the bush to look
after my business, I was not at home when

I 70 Seven Years a7Jzong the Fjort,

my wife brought forth my first born. Know-
ing, however, that there was no more diffi-
culty or danger about the process than any
other common event in the true course of
nature, — I was not anxious, and did not
hear of it until my return.

Some of my enemies had been at work,
and had been giving my wife great trouble
about the boundaries of the land I had
commissioned her to buy. The real owner
of the ground, a prince who had inherited
the land from his uncle, and whose family
had had possession of the place for cen-
turies, was not a popular prince among his
own people, though a great friend of mine,
and in every way a worthy one. He was not
in town when my wife purchased the ground,
but in the bush : he, however, had left the
management of his affairs in the hands of
his brother. This brother therefore, to-
gether with the princes who, as supreme

Autobiography of a Fjort. iji

rulers, though not absolute owners of the
ground, had to receive a certain sum on
the sale of land, was called down by my
wife. She explained her reason for wishing
for the ground, and after treating the
princes in the usual way, made the prince
a present, (his share of the payment,) re-
serving the payment to the real owner of
the ground until he should return from the
bush. The prince, after he had consulted
my friend's brother, accepted his share and
the brother answered for the acceptance of
his share by the real owner on his return —
the ground, therefore, was legally ours.
But some one, now that we had secured
the ground, thought that he required it,
and bamboozled the chief prince so
that he assented to deny our right
to it, and stated that he had never
received his share of the payment. He
did this, knowing that the witnesses my

172 S eve 71 Years among the Fjort,

wife had asked to be present when she
bought the ground were now absent in the
bush. The owner of the ground returned
from the bush and received his part of, the
payment, having been told that the supreme
prince had received his share.

The supreme prince, taking advantage
of my absence, bothered my wife very
much.

The prince and owner of the ground, (our
friend), had many quarrels with the supreme
prince, and the question gathered force as
it went along, until both prepared for war.
The supreme prince looked upon this as
rebellion on the part of our friend, and
received, on asking for it, the help of the
King, or rather Queen of Chinchonso, the
wife now of Antonio Thiaba da Costa.

Antonio was only too glad to have the
chance of setting upon me, and advised
Samana, his queen, to have my friend and

Aiitobiography of a Fjort. 173

owner of the land tied up, as they stated
that the ground sold to my wife contained a
feteich tree, and was therefore common
property. Antonio also had just tied up
an uncle of mine, wishing to poison him,
thinking that by so doing he would damage
my prospects of succession to Mambuko
of Chinchonzo, who was now dying, and I
had great difficulty in forcing him to
release my uncle, which he only did on my
threatening to tie up any of his people
passing my way, and promising him that
my uncle should take cassia, in the usual
way, if necessary.

To save my friend from being tied up, I
had for a short time to give up the ground
rightfully purchased by my wife, w^ell know-
ing, however, that as soon as my witnesses
returned, and a proper palaver was called
together, a decision would be given in my
favour, and the ground declared mine.

1 74 Seveii Years among the Fjort,

This question gave me trouble for over
eighteen months. At last I got the
supreme chief to admit that he had re-
ceived his share, and by giving him a small
present saved myself the expense of a
palaver, and took possession of the ground,
immediately ordering a carpenter to cut
down the feteich tree. This was done so
quickly that it took the people's breath
away, and as they could not replace the tree,
they left me in peace. Numberless ques-
tions, however, arose out of this one, which
will keep many of my enemies employed
for many years.

Tired of going backwards and forwards
to the bush, I became settled down as
headman in an English factory, and gave
my attention more to politics, and the
collection and management of my slaves
and dependents, many of whom, as traders,
had now become wealthy men, and

Autobiography of a Fjort. 175

never failed to pay me my share of the
profits, as their elder, chief, or master.

A sad affliction now overtook me, my
first wife had by some tremendous neglect
allowed my first-born to be burnt so severely
that he died, and consequently she suffered
the full penalty of the law, and was
executed.

Jimpaulo's uncle having died, he was
the proper heir to Mambuco's cap, but as
he was considered too young to undertake
the responsibilities of office, I was the next
direct heir through the female branch,
and all the country round about came
to condole with me as his heir appa-
rent. The expense in entertaining so
raany hundreds of mourners nearly ruined
me, and I had once more to go to the
bush and make my dependents trade
hard, so that I might get money enough to
bury him as his station and position

176 Seven Yeai^s among the Fjort,

demanded ; and to be able worthily to
undertake the responsibilities, duties, and
expenses that would fall upon me as his
successor. And further I had to spend
large sums in counteracting the plots
hatched by Antonio in his attempts to
deprive me of my birthright.

All things, however, progressed favour-
ably, and Antonio at last had to admit my
right to Mambuko's hat, and retire from the
strife.

Thousands had been invited to my
uncle's funeral, and as each tribe or
family made its appearance, bringing some
trifling ofl^ering, it had to be entertained.
(" Four years had passed since my uncle
Jimpaulo's death, during w^hich time he had
remained unburied in a shimbec I had built
for him, wrapped in yards and yards of
cloth, and surrounded by all he had treasured
most w^hile alive. Such treasures as relics

A Mtobiography of a Fjort, 1 7 7

the old missionaries had left behind them
when Africa was first visited by them,
presents from various travellers, old slavers
and traders, and pictures out of the Graphic^
or some other illustrated paper. His body
was watched by his wives, none of whom
could marry again until after his burial.
( His coffin, or rather burial-car, took me
two years to build, and measured fifteen
feet by four feet broad, and ten feet in
height, with a verandah two feet wide run-
ning round it. It was covered with red
save list, ornamented with broad black
braid, down the centre of which ran thin
white braid, attached to the save list by
brass-headed nails. On the top stood a
stuffed leopard, the sign of royalty ; and an
open umbrella, fixed exactly in the centre,
shaded my uncle's head, which, wrapped
in cloth, protruded from a hole left in the
coffin for that purpose ; certain other orna-

N

I yS Seven Years among the Fjort,

ments, such as jugs, ewers, wash-basins,
duck and hen boxes, were also placed on
the top. Flags were fastened to the four
corner verandah posts. The whole coffin
rested on eight wheels of solid wood.

When thousands had assembled, it
being about noon, I attached the long
grass ropes to the coffin so that all
might help to haul it along, and
having formed the procession gave the
signal to start. Then all, bursting into
song, dragged the huge car along, over
boulders, stones, stumps of trees, and small
shrubs, as if it weighed nothing, so many
willing hands were there. I ran wildly
about in my excitement, encouraging the
guard who, flintlocks in hand, walked by the
side of the car, or the six wives as they
marched in line, each under the shade of a
gorgeous umbrella, or the ten trumpeters
blowing their ivories, or the mafuca who

A titobiography of a Fjo rt. 179

now in silence carried my uncle's cap and
chimpabba (or knife of office), or the
bearers of my late uncle's hammock, or else
mingling with the now maddened throng
that pulled the car along, commencing new
songs for them as perhaps their ardour
flagged or they tired of the old one. Thus
excited we at last arrived at the spot
where a huge hole had been dug large
enough to contain the whole car.

Many old men now came forward to sing
the praises of the departed, express them-
selves satisfied that all had been done that
my uncle might rest in peace, and give
their ideas as to the succession to my
uncle's hat. Suddenly hundreds of willing
hands lower the car to its last resting-
place, after having first taken away the
ornaments that bedecked its top, and soon
the big coffin is covered with earth, and
the ornaments placed on the grave. Then

N 2

1 80 Seven Years among tJie Fjort,

my relations crown me and place a wreath
of grasses around my shoulders and lead
me back to town in triumph, dancing and
singing from that hour until the next
day, when they take me round to all the
towns about and proclaim me M'buko.

We were obliged to hurry back to town,
however, as notice w^as brought to us that
some one had killed a leopard. The
custom is that when a leopard is killed, the
people of the different towms in that dis-
trict can loot each other's towns to their
heart's content, and on the day fixed for
the delivery of the leopard to the king,
the destroyer of the animal can take it
through any of the towns he chooses,
having the right to appropriate any article
he may meet on his road that is not inside
a shimbec or other dwelling.

A iitobiograpJiy of a Fjort. 1 8 1

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1 82 Seven Years among the Fjort,

CHAPTER VIII.

SLAVERY IN AFRICA.

Slavery as it was, and as it is— General Gordon — The
Slave trade in the Soudan, in Abyssinia, Morocco,
Madagascar, and on the South-West coast of Africa
— Portugal and the Slave trade.

Slavery has existed in Africa from time
immemorial, but so long as the slave was
not bought for the foreign market there
can be no doubt that his lot was more or
less a happy one. The more slaves a
prince owned the more powerful and rich
was he considered, so that it was not to
his interest to lessen their number if
possible. At times, no doubt, a slave had
to be sacrificed either to save his master's

Slavery in Afi^ica. 183

life, or to pay some fine inflicted upon him
by his laws. His enemy, however, would
naturally prefer that his power should be
increased by the transfer of a slave than
that his wrath should be appeased by his
death. Thus, the death of a slave to save
the life of his master w^ould only occur
when superstition actually required it.
Born a slave, he knows no other position.
It is all the same to him whoever owns
him as long as he is provided with the
necessaries of life. So long as slavery in
this form existed, it merely constituted
part of the social order of the country, and
we may conclude was more or less free
from many of the abuses we are accus-
tomed to attach to it.

It cannot be doubted that a slave's ideas
when sold or transferred to one of his own,
in his own country, were widely different to
those he entertained when being sold to a

1 84 Seven Years amo7zg the Fjort.

white man. On the one hand, his situation
and the customs of his country soon
reconciled him to the change. On the
other, he imagined that the white man
w^ished to devour him for food, or to offer
him as a sacrifice to his God.

The British and Foreign Anti- Slavery
Society has received frequent and un-
doubted evidence of the increase of the
slave trade in Central and Eastern Africa.

The death of General Gordon and the
relapse of the Soudan into worse than its
former barbarism, has left the field open to
the enterprising and remorseless Arab
slave-hunter, whilst a diminution in the
force of the preventive squadrons in the
Red Sea and on the East Coast renders it
comparatively easy to run cargoes of slaves
to Arabia and to the islands in the Indian
Ocean.

The claims made by Germany to exercise

Slavery in Africa. 185

sovereign rights in Africa, at the instance
of trading companies, or for other reasons,
have resulted in a poHcy which tends
to weaken the hold of the Sultan of
Zanzibar over large districts on the main-
land.

This enables slave-traders to defy the
authority of the Sultan and to carry on
their nefarious traffic in human beings with
comparative impunity.

Mr. Stanley, in his interesting work on
the Congo, describes the gigantic scale
upon which TIppu Tib, an Arab trader,
hailing from Zanzibar, and well known to
Dr. Livingstone in former years, now
carries on his system of slave raids. Since
the death of King M'tesa, it is probably
safe to assert that this chieftain is now the
most powerful ruler of Central Africa, his
armies being composed of captured slaves,
who, after the manner of these people,

1 86 Seven Years among the Fjort.

appear only too ready to reduce other
tribes to slavery.

The following extracts from letters from
a correspondent in Abyssinia, lately
received by the Anti-Slavery Society,
give a graphic picture of the slave trade in
that part of Africa, and are valuable as
being the latest intelligence from the
country bordering on the Soudan : —

The Slave Trade in Abyssinia.

" The interior of East Africa may be
considered even now as the head-quarters
of slavery and the slave trade, both having
reached such an organized footing there,
as is not to be found elsewhere. The
slave-trader seeks less the negroes re-
markable for their physical strength than
those who are good-looking and intelligent,
for which reason his attention is directed
to the nobler and finer races. These are

Slavery in Africa. 187

chiefly found to the south or south-west of
Abyssinia, and are not particularly addicted
to work, in proof of which, it frequently
happens that the liberty-loving Galla will
rather kill himself, when he finds no escape
from slavery, than allow himself to be
bound to work as a slave. For this reason
suicide is common among them. The
slave-traders, who want slaves for hard
work, fetch them from the White Nile, to
the westward.

" The slave traffic in the neighbourhood
of the east coast and the interior is conse-
quently confined only to children from six
to fifteen years of age, chiefly pretty young
girls, and also boys, the latter mostly
destined to become eunuchs for Mahom-
medan harems. The slave-traders call
them ' Wossief,' or superfine goods. One
pictures to oneself the sufferings of those
deplorable victims of human avarice and

i88 Seven Years aynong the Fjort.

sensuality. From Kaffa and the kingdom
of Djema, the caravans travel through the
cool table-lands of the Gallas, and the
country of the Guraques to Shoa. Worn
out by the hardships of the journey, the
naked forms cower shivering from their
exposure to cold, wind, and weather. If a
short and restless sleep permits them for a
moment to forget their misery, it is soon
broken by the driver's voice calling them
to resume their weary tramp. Woe betide
the laggards ! The pernicious influences
of the climate on one hand, and the un-
feeling severity of the drivers on the other,
increase the tortures of the poor creatures
ad infinitum. For this reason the lot of
those who are soon sold in the country is
always more tolerable, insomuch as they
are spared the further hardships of the
journey. The chief places of export are
the kingdom of Kaffa, Gambatta, Djema,

Slavery in Africa. 189

all which pay tribute to the Southern
kingdom of Shoa, besides many smaller
free countries such as the Guraques,
Maragos, Dschassas, etc., and the many
large and small Galla tribes far towards
the south beyond Kaffa.

" The kings of Abyssinia have been
repeatedly urged to prohibit slave-trading.
Their promises to that effect have not been
fulfilled. What at first was officially
forbidden has been secretly deferred, until
later on the trafhc has been carried on
more openly than ever. As stated, the
majority of the countries mentioned are
under Abyssinian control, and the traffic
passes from them through Abyssinian
territory, where, in the neighbourhood of
Ankobar, the oldest chief town of Shoa,
a tax of one thaler, or four marks. Is
levied.

" In Djema, Kaffa, etc., the slaves are

190 Seven Years among the Fjort.

bartered for copper wares and salt, and a
female slave who can be had there at from
six to seven marks, is worth four to five
times as much more in Shoa. In Shoa
itself there are several slave stations, that
is, places where slaves in large numbers
are bought to be re-sold later.

" One can well imagine that in conse-
quence of the triumphant success of the
rebels in the Soudan, every Mahom-
medan finds himself in an excited, insolent,
and fanatical frame of mind, and this will
go on increasing if a timely check is not
given to their doings. I do not believe
that in these regions the slave trade has
ever ceased. Officially forbidden it may be,
but it has been carried on secretly between
the above-named place in Abyssinia and
the coast.

'' The Society has received information
that further down the East Coast the

Slavery in Africa, 191

import of slaves Into Zanzibar itself is now
very large and would seem to be increasing.
The present clove season is one of great
promise in the adjoining island of Pemba,
and slaves being comparatively cheap, in
part owing to the late dreadful famine,
the demand for slave labour will be easily
met. This reported increase in the slave
trade is no doubt partly due to the absence
of her Majesty's Consul-General, Sir John
Kirk, now in England on special business.
The increase is also supposed to be due to
the withdrawal of the British war-ship, the
London^ from Zanzibar waters.

'' A renewed demand for African labour
has, of late, sprung up in the sugar islands
owned by France in the Indian Ocean —
a demand intensified by the refusal of
England to allow Indian coolies to be
imported into French colonies. The
evidence of Consul O'Neill of Mozambique,

ig2 Seveii Years a77tong the Fjort.

published in the Blue Books, and the
reports sent by missionaries to the Anti-
Slavery Society, prove that an enormous
slave trade is now carried on in the
countries bordering on Lake Nyassa.
Caravans of slaves, several thousands
strong, have been repeatedly traced to
the Mozambique coast, whence they are
shipped in small detachments, either to
neighbouring islands or to Arabia.

"A naval officer lately engaged in
Zanzibar waters, states that the traffic in
slaves is now as lively as it has ever been
during the past seven years.

'' Another naval officer lately reported
that he had captured, near the island of
Pemba, a dhow of eleven tons measurement
which had started on its voyage with loo
slaves on board ! Encountering bad
weather, the captain threw overboard
thirteen slaves, alive and well, in order to

.^-■\ \^^<

Slavery in Africa, 193

make room for bailing and to lighten the
ship.

" Morocco.

*'The attention of the Anti-Slavery
Society has lately been directed to
Morocco, in which country there is a large
and increasing slave trade. The supplies
for the Morocco market are mostly ob-
tained from Timbuctoo and the central
Soudan, at a considerable cost of human
life. Two large annual fairs are held on
the Southern borders of the empire, where
men, women and children are sold like
herds of cattle."

Madagascar.

The following intelligence, conveyed in
a letter to the editor of the Madagascar
Times ^ of July 24th, confirms the foregoing
statement as to the increase of the slave

O

1 94 Seven Years among the Fjort,

trade on the East Coast of Africa. Writing
from South West Madagascar, the cor-
respondent states: — "On this coast we
see to-day the commercial houses of
Reunion buying slaves and shipping them
by the d ozen for Reunion. Thus the great
French Republic, professing to be the
lover of liberty, allows its subjects to carry
on traffic in humankind. These miserable
slaves are, by false interpretation at their
destination, made to appear to be voluntary
free labourers for the colony."

The South-West Coast of Africa.

The export of slaves from the S.W.
coast of Africa was commenced about the
year 1450, by the Portuguese. The
English and French were the first who
began to cultivate the Windward Islands;
and in proportion as the West Indies were
cultivated, the demand for slaves increased.

Slavery in Africa. 195

The ancestors of the poor negroes who
are now suffering from the evils of the
'* diabolical traffic," we may suppose, at
first, as living nearest to the sea, furnished
the slaves which were sold to the
Europeans. But as the demand increased,
traders settled on the coast and up the
rivers. Expeditions were organized for
the capture and purchase of slaves, until
millions w^ere carried over to North,
Central, and South America. ^A Bill,
making all slave trade illegal after the ist
January, 1808, passed both our Houses.

But many British subjects carried on
the trade under the Portuguese and
Spanish flags. In 1833, 20,000,000/. was
awarded by the British Government as an
indemnification to the slave ow^ners. And
since this date, there being no market, the
slave trade has been dying a natural death on
our coast. At Loango, Cabenda and Boma,
o 2

1 96 Seven Years among the Fjort.

the three great slave stations, the traffic
in slaves may be considered as abolished.
The only market for slaves being at St.
Paulo de Loanda. Still it is only a few
years ago that the leading English trading
firm set their slaves at liberty ; and many
of the traders still retain their slaves, and
the governments that have annexed these
countries wink at their doing so.

Certainly in this form two of the great
evils of slavery are avoided — the shipment
of the slave and the placing of him in a
foreign country — but how about his treat-
ment ? One or two little incidents may
suffice to show you that it is not all that
could be wished. A trader, who had none
but free servants about him, was astonished
one morning to find a servant of twenty-
four years' standing in a state of terrible
grief. On asking what had happened, he
was informed that a neighbouring trader

Slavery in Africa, 197

had tied up the old man's wife, the greatest
insult he could have inflicted upon him,
because he (the trader), had heard that
one of his slaves that had escaped eleven
years ago, was hiding in the old free
servant's village. The old man was
obliged to leave his work and set off to
his town and make every endeavour to cap-
ture the runaway slave. After many days'
chase he at last succeeded in securing
the slave, who had escaped to a town far
distant, and in handing him over to the
trader. The trader squeezed the slave's
fingers in the copying-press until he had
to say that the old man, eleven years back,
had aided him in making his escape.

Some may have read, a few years^\
ago, of the burning of certain trading
factories belonging to a large trading
company in the Congo. It was reported
that the natives had set fire to these

198 Seven Years among the Fjort,

stations and, in consequence, a great
expedition was organized against them.
Many of their towns were burnt, and one
of their princes taken prisoner.

Time rolled on and the prisoner still
persisted in declaring his innocence. At
last the trader in charge of one of the
factories confessed that the traders of the
other two stations that had been burnt,
had come to him and, under the threat of
death, forced him to join them in defraud-
ing the company by handing over their col-
lected produce to an unscrupulous scamp,
perhaps the instigator of the whole plot,
resident at Boma, who would pay them so
much for it. The produce was trans-
ferred, the factories burnt, and the slaves
employed in this transaction quietly
drowned.

Talking of such atrocities as these,
committed by his ill-bred brethren in the

Slavery in Afj'ica, 199

Congo, a Portuguese, writing to a paper
in Loanda, says, '' If foreigners have placed
so many obstacles in the way of the
acknowledgment of Portugal's right to the
Congo, it is owing to many reasons, but
principally to the disorderly and intriguing
spirit of ill-bred Portuguese, and also to
their slave-trading propensities, for the
greater part of the Portuguese factories
have slaves in the true acceptation of the
word, called Kromanos, whom they thrash
most unmercifully. . . . The tendency to
enslave the black man, to spoil and shame-
fully rob him, is not the only scandal
which exists to the shame of the Portu-
ofuese, whose Government was the first in
Europe to abolish capital punishment, for
there even exists the secret desire of en-
slaving the white man, etc., etc."

Writing in November, 1875, Cameron
says, " Manoel informed me that slaves

200 Seven Years ainong the Fjort.

were still exported from the coast,
especially from Mossamedes. He said
they were held in readiness for embarka-
tion although scattered about the town in
small parties, instead of being kept in
barracoons as tormerly, and a steamer
came in for an hour or two, shipped the
slaves and was off again immediately. I
inquired their destination, but he could
give me no information on that point.

" The abolition of slavery in the
Portuguese possessions was decreed
some years ago ; the names of the then
existing slaves were to be inscribed as
free in ' the Government offices, and
the slaves were to be required to work
for seven years as a compensation to
their owners.' This, however, has re-
mained a dead letter, and the authorities
have not troubled themselves to enforce the
liberation after the time expired.

Slavery in Africa, 201

'^ The complete abolition of slavery in
Angola, has, however, been decreed to take
place in the year 1878."

Now, in 1886, Portugal ships ''do-
mestic slaves " to S. Thome and Principe
and San Antonio, and unless it is clearly
shown that this form of slavery is wrong,
I have no doubt that, owing to the difhculty
some have in obtaining labour, most of the
traders in the Portuguese newly-acquired
territory will be glad to make use of this
legalized form of slavery.

M. Serpa, Portugal's representative at
the Berlin Conference, animated by moral
considerations, proposed to prohibit the
importation of wooden collars, whips, and
other instruments of torture made use
of by slave proprietors. No doubt the
same motives force the Portuguese
Government to buy (and thus create a
market) those poor people who are brought

202 Seven Years among the Fjort.

to them to be saved from some fearful
fate, who, they are told, are prisoners
of war, and as such doomed to death ;
or whose owners can no longer afford to
feed them, and to save their lives she
takes them over and feeds them, and
gives them their liberty ? Oh, dear no !
She makes them domestic slaves, who
are inscribed as free in the Government
offices, and are required to work for so
many years, after having served which,
their contracts may be renewed.

How many of these domestic slaves do
ever return to their native land to enjoy
their well-earned liberty, I wonder? In
the " Anti-Slavery Report " for August
and September, 1886, we read, " M.
Serpa must know, and none better, that
the deportation of slaves from the West
Coast to the Portuguese islands of S.
Thome and Principe, within the last two

Slavery in Africa. 203

years, has become a distressing scandal.
British officers of high rank, who have
had to witness these disgraceful transac-
tions on their way home from the Congo
River, must have despaired when they read
such attempts as those of Portugal to
pose as the friend of the slave."

204 Seven Years among the Fjort,

CHAPTER IX.

THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

False statements respecting Traders and the Liquor
Traffic — Misleading statistics — A suggestion for the
Church Missionary Society — How to suppress the
Liquor Traffic — Germany stood out for the traffic
when England and America wished to stop it.

In the first instance, to avoid all mis-
understanding, let me state that I am
sure most of the traders on the coast
would be overjoyed to see this traffic
annihilated in Africa, and almost, if not
quite so, in Europe. But we, as merchants
and traders, are bound to do our best to
meet the requirements of the different
native markets, and so long as the negro

The Liquor Traffic, 205

demands rum^ gin, powder, or what not,
in exchange for his produce — and its
traffic is not made illegal — so long must
we supply him with them. For any
one to suppose, as some would have
you suppose, that the trader allows the
negro an unlimited supply of liquor in
exchange for produce, is an egregious
error.

In a paper written by the Rev. Horace
Waller, F.R.G.S., and published under
the auspices of the Church Missionary
Society, the following occurs : —

'' The idea of drinking spirits is in-
separable from the notion of European
life in the ken of the native. Owing to
the relaxing climate of the rivers, there
are few factories which cannot tell their
tale of hard drinking and certain death as
a consequence. But we are repeating an

2o6 Seven Years among the Fjort.

oft-told story, and those who are Hkely to
read these pages have probably made
themselves acquainted with the state of the
West Coast in some degree. Whatever
milk of human kindness the traders may
have possessed at one time seems to
have passed into a milk-punch stage ;
competition is relentless, times are very
bad, palm-oil has fallen to a ruinous rate
— true, the price of spirits has fallen
too ; but the degradation of the wretched
tribes of West Africa has reached a depth
which is appalling. Nor is this altogether
to be wondered at when we turn to a few
facts and figures before us. Here is a
statement, for instance, showing the
quantities and value of spirits of all kinds
exported to Africa from the United
Kingdom, Germany (Hamburg and Bre-
men), Portugal, and the United States, of
recent years : —

The Liqtior Traffic, 207

Gallons. £

Great Britain sent in 1884 602,328 value 117,143
Germany „ „ 7,136,263 „ 713,634

Portugal „ 1882 91,524 „ 6,166

America „ 1884-5 921,412 ,, 56,889

Total 8,751,527 ;£893,832

''We think, then, we have here a
tolerably clear guidance, but we cannot
get at the full extent of the disease. For
instance, we are in the dark as to the
extent of the evil with which France
is mixed up, and her trade and energy
are just now conspicuous on the African
seaboard. Neither can we go into the
quality of the stuff dealt out to the
native tribes. Suffice it to say that, in
some instances, and to save carriage
expenses, pure alcohol is used as an
article of this trade ; it must, of course,
be * washed,' to use a technical term —
that is, diluted many times, before even
the throat of a Brass River negro can

2o8 Seven Years among the Fjort.

tolerate It ; the traffic in this particular
article is forcing its way, we regret to
add, in East Africa."

I do not think the Rev. Horace Waller,
F.R.G.S., has ever been on the South-
West coast of Africa, and I do not know
from what sources heobtainsthese statistics.
Perhaps they come from the same pernicious
source as that from which this Christian
gentleman has gathered his witty but false
statement of the milk-punch stage of the
trader. All I can say is, that during my
seven years' experience I have met very few
drunkards among the whites on the coast,
and any such have been quickly sent home
as good-for-nothings. It is certainly the
rule now-a-days to meet temperate men,
if not total abstainers, among the English
traders on the South-West coast of Africa.

The total quantity of spirits from all these
countries to the huge continent of Africa,

The Liquor Traffic. 209

then, according to this gentleman's figures,
for these recent — let us say three — years,
amounts to nearly 9,000,000 gallons.
Now, the population of Africa is estimated
at about 180,000,000, but let us allow that
only 15,000,000 of these come under the
baneful influence of the diabolical traffic,
then in these recent three years the
drinking negro has averaged one bottle
per annum, which is absurd, and gives you
no idea of a very great abuse of spirits.
As in Europe so in Africa there are
negroes w^ho abuse the use of spirits ; but
they know just as well as the European
that it is bad for them, and are just as able
to resist its influence, yea perhaps even
better able to counteract its abuse, through
their feteiches, than w^e are. It is a great
mistake to imagine, on the other hand, that
negroes have not the sense and judgment
to use spirits without abuse.

P

2 lo Seven Years ainoitg the Fjort.

At the outside, I calculate a trader skives
one part spirit for every six of merchan-
dise, and In many places this one part is
strongly diluted with water, and in its turn
is divided between the commission agent,
the owner of the produce, and the many
carriers that bring the produce down, all of
whom have hangers-on who demand their
share.

But whatever quantity the trader may
give the native, the question is. How are
you going to lessen or entirely do away
with the trafhc In liquor ? Certainly not
by bullying the trader, who Is just as willing
to sell tracts and blankets as he is gin or
rum, provided that he Is allowed to make
his profit and there be an equally good sale
for them. As a Christian, I suppose a
trader can, in his sphere, discourage the
abuse of spirits and do a great deal towards
its disuse, but credit will not be given him

The Liquor Traffic, 2 1 1

for it. Travellers and missionaries, after
partaking of his hospitality, will still con-
tinue to write long, canting padding in
their books or reports respecting this evil,
as if the trader were to blame for the in-
efficacy of the gospel the missionaries
preach to overcome it, even as Mahomed-
anism has overcome it — or as if he had
taken part in the Berlin conference and in
any way opposed the British, American or
Italian ambassadors in their endeavours to
suppress it. So far as I can see, these are
the only means to ensure its suppression.
Either let the missionaries — putting aside
narrow-mindedness and canting sectarian
preaching, and, above all, practising the
Gospel of Christ in all its breadth — set
to work to overcome the evil with good ;
for surely what Mahomedanism can do,
our far more noble faith need not despair
of accomplishing. Or let them retire from
P 2

2 1 2 Seven Yem^s among the Fjort,

a field, where men of courage, piety and
learning are needed to overcome an EXIST-
ING EVIL; if, in their ignorance and
cowardice they, instead of being ready to
fight their own battles manfully, are only
prepared to wag their canting tongues in
abusing a class of men who, for all they
know, or are likely to know (so little do they
study them), are in all possibility doing as
much, if not more, for the welfare of the
people among whom they dwell than mis-
sionaries can at present.

As a trader, I hope for little results from
the efforts of missionaries until we have a
different system of working and a different
class of men sent out to us, who will give
and take in a truly Christian spirit, and
work hand in hand with the trader.

Yes. '' There can be no excuse for the
continuance of the diabolical traffic, and it
is a blot on Christian civilization." So

The Liqttor Traffic . 213

writes a great traveller. At the Berlin
conference, where we may suppose Chris-
tianity and civilization were well repre-
sented, the Italian ambassador, ''on the
grounds of moral considerations, demanded
the prohibition of the importation of
spirituous liquors and of powder into the
territories in question." Great Britain and
the United States were, through their
delegates, of the same mind. Well, here
was a chance for these moral and philan-
thropic Christians and civilizers to suppress
*' the diabolical traffic." And why did
they not do so at one fell swoop ? — we
traders would have thanked them. Why?
Well, vou know why. " It would have
struck dismay into the very heart of
Hamburg, and that would not have suited
Germany." The rum manufacturer is
allowed to pose as a Christian and a
civilizer because he is powerful. The

2 14 Seven Year's among the Fjort,

rum-seller, as the trader is called, Is the
proper man to be kicked because he Is
weak and cannot retaliate.

" We and our brethren of the L.M.S./'
writes the learned Mr. Bently, "have been
able to travel and work without It^ although
the Roman Catholic missionaries do not
shrink from using It freely." And then
from his exalted position as a Christian
missionary he gives the trader a parting
kick by Informing his readers that it would
be folly to seek information as to Africa
and Africans from traders. They only
know the people living near to their
factories, who are debased by their contact
with what is misnamed commerce and
civilization.

As an Nklssist, one has very little trouble
in dealing with the abuse of liquor, for if
A is given to drinking, B can call down one
of the great feteiches, and A assenting,

TJie Liquor Traffic, 215

the nganga or doctor taking a nail, twists
it in A's hair, and then hammers it into
the feteich, as A in a loud voice forswears
the use of spirits for ever. Should A
break his pledge, the evil spirit wall kill
him.

Thus you have three ways of doing
away with the liquor traffic. You can urge
the missionaries on to greater, better
directed efforts, that they, by the help of
God, may altogether win the native over
to teetotahsm, or you may spare them the
trouble by annihilating the manufacturer
of spirits ; or thirdly, you may become
Nkissists, and go in for a systematic
knocking of the different powerful
feteiches.

2 1 6 Seven Years mnong the Fjort,

CHAPTER X.

THE PROPOSED CONGO RAILWAY.

The Congo Railway — What the Traders thought of
the scheme — Real reasons for its collapse — British
trade the most important on the South-West Coast
and the most neglected by the Home Government
— Prospects of the Congo State.

The following letter appeared in the
Times of October 4th, 1886.

Brussels, Sept. 29.

(from a correspondent.)

" I have obtained from an authorized
source the following information relative
to the negotiations between the Congo
State Government and the English Congo

.4^'

■<

V '4«K

'f-^'N^. '■ m .1.

The proposed Congo Railway. 2 1 7

Railway Syndicate, which have lasted over
ten months.

'' In December last the delegates of the
syndicate agreed at Brussels with the
Congo Government on the general bases
of an arrangement. The railway conces-
sion and the advantages promised to the
company were to be set out in a charter
by the Sovereign of the Congo State,
which was to embody in a definite form
the conditions mutually agreed on. It
was expressly declared that nothing
in this arrangement should be in opposi-
tion to the General Act of the Berlin
Congress.

" The syndicate caused to be drawn up at
London a project of charter which it sub-
mitted to the Congo State Government at
the end of Februarv, but the latter declared
itself unable to accept it, chiefly because a
considerable number of dispositions con-

2 1 8 Seven Yea7's aiitong the Fjort.

talned in the project were in opposition to
its international engagements. A counter
project prepared by the Congo State
Government was sent last April to the
representatives of the syndicate, who in
their turn proposed changes. To shorten
the negotiations the Congo State Govern-
ment sent to London in May last Mr.
Barclay, an English lawyer, in order to
arrange with the delegates of the syndicate
for the drafting of a charter satisfactory to
both parties. For this purpose the Congo
State Government's counter project was
taken as the starting-point. After some
days' discussion no understanding w^as
arrived at, and the delegates of the syndi
cate demanded a return to the primitive
text presented by it.

'' In order to use all means of concilia-
tion, Mr. Barclay agreed with the repre-
sentatives of the syndicate to amend this

The proposed Congo Raihvay. 219

primitive project so as to render it as
acceptable as possible, and to have at last
a definite test on which the Congo State
Government on the one side and the
syndicate on the other could take a reso-
lution.

'' The syndicate adopted at its general
meeting of the 26th of last August the
text thus modified, with some amendments
which the delegate of the Congo State
Government had previously demanded.
It only remained for the Congo State
Government to adopt the scheme, but
after examination the State found that,
notwithstanding the ameliorations obtained
by its delegate, the project of the syndicate
remained unacceptable, and could not be
reconciled either with the prerogatives
which the Congo State must preserv^e as a
Sovereign Power or with the provision of
the General Act of Berlin, which Interdicts

2 20 Seven Years among the Fjort.

privileges and monopolies in commercial
matters. The State was, therefore, com-
pelled to put an end to these long and
laborious negotiations by acknowledging
the impossibility of arriving at an under-
standing.

'^ I was finally assured that by acting
in this manner the Congo State Govern-
ment is convinced that it has not in any
way put aside previous engagements — ' de
n'etre nullement revenue sur des engage-
ments anterieurs,' as my interlocutor
expressed himself."

There can be no doubt that the opinion
on the coast and about the '' Congo " with
respect to the Railway scheme was that
the Manchester merchants, anxious to
find a market up country and so to turn
over much of their capital now lying
idle, and distressed at the muddle our
Government had made of the Congo

The proposed Congo Railway. 221

question, were willing to push and support
the Railway scheme, but on terms that
virtually created an imperhim in imperio,
and would open out the district to BRITISH
enterprise rather than to that of the whole
world.

On such terms, even, it was thought that
the Congo State, like a drowning man
catching at a straw, would have been glad
to jump at such a prospect of future pros-
perity as such a railway, once laid down,
promised.

But the syndicate has been voluntarily
wound up and a liquidator appointed, start-
ling news to us who are not behind the
scenes and have learnt to look upon the
Railway scheme as the only means of life
to the Congo State. How is she going to
support herself now that such a nail has
been driven into her prospective coflfin ?
Is she trusting to German capitalists }

222 Seven Years among the Fjort.

Or has France, fearful of the preponderating
British influence in these parts, been whis-
pering words of false comfort and hope ? It
must be remembered that France has the
first refusal in case the Congo Free State
comes to grief and wants to find a suc-
cessor. Is De Brazza going to build a
railway ? So, however, a noble scheme for
employing British labour and capital in
opening out the land of promise has fallen
through; and though Manchester has done
its best for him, the British trader is once
more left in a state of uncertainty and
doubt.

I am fully aware of the strides Lord
Rosebery has made in the proper direction,
but how different all would have been
if our Government had not ignored the
British trader in these parts ! Instead
of trusting entirely to books of travel,
reports sent home by odd commanders,

The proposed Congo Railway. 223

who touch at these different ports perhaps
once a year and pick up what information
can hurriedly be given to them, or relying
on a consul who is far distant when most
needed, and, through red-tapeism, cut
off from being of any use either to the
trader abroad or his country. Yes, in-
stead of our Home Government having
to rely for information on such miserable
reports, with a very little trouble and
perhaps a little condescension, it might
have had a perfectly net-like system of
supervision and a full and perfect know-
ledge of all events as they occurred.

How easy, for instance, would it be
for England to appoint certain traders,
at short distances one from the other,
vice-consuls or agents, who, each in his
district, could watch the interest of
British trade and gather together infor-
mation of the greatest service either to

2 24 Seven Years among the Fjort.

his country or consul-general when he
chose to visit them ; or to some society
for the protection of British trade ! The
natives or powers in possession would
know that they were under the observa-
tion of one who had the power to make
his cause known and act, if necessary —
and this alone would prevent injustice or
bullying.

Let me hurriedly relate a small incident
which will convince you that our interests
on the coast are not at present looked
after.

Two very troublesome servants in a
factory in Cabenda happened to have
had a quarrel about a woman during
business hours. The agent told them
to fight it out after business hours,
and get on with their work. They
fought it out, and the Loango boy
thrashed the Cabenda. The Cabenda

)

■^ ^^^1

4 -^

■w

a "^
C >i

The proposed Congo Railway. 225

called down his family, and they com-
menced sitting upon the Loango. As
the row assumed annoying proportions,
the agent ordered his head man, a
prince of Cabenda, to clear the yard.
He endeavoured to do so, but failed.
The Kroo boys were then ordered to
push the family outside the limits of
the factory, where the natives might
settle their question among themselves.
The Kroo boys commenced their duty
mildly, but one of the family ordered
one of his slaves to fire on the Kroo
boys. This he did, and killed one
standing close to a white trader. The
family then retired, and the traders
buried their dead. You must not suppose
that the traders wxre not anxious and
willing to sacrifice their own lives in
avenging the death of their servant : on
the contrary, the agent had the greatest

Q

2 26 Seven Yeaj^s among the Fjort.

difficulty in restraining them from being
rash. The agent, however, had British
merchandise to the value of 60,000/. or
70,000/. under his charge, and felt certain
that his country, or any civilized power,
would take up his cause and avenge
the murder. Further, he knew that
he would lose not only all this British
property, but the lives of all the traders
and servants under him, and his own
life, if he attempted to avenge the insult.
His helplessness grieved him. At any
moment the natives might attack him.
What was he to do ? Apply to a British
man-of-war ? Yes ; where was he to
find one, and if he found one, what
could the commander do without first
consulting the Consul ? Apply to the
Consul ? He was at home on a holiday,
and the worthy man taking his place
was 300 miles from Cabenda ! The

The proposed Congo Railw.iy. 227

whaler was despatched to Landana with
orders to apply for help to the first man-
of-war. It happened to be a Portuguese ;
she steamed immediately to Cabenda and
offered to burn the whole place down.
But the agent knew that the force the
commander had at his disposal was not
sufficient, and declined. Finally the
natives handed over the poor slave that
had been ordered to fire, and promised to
hold a palaver. The prisoner was taken
to Loanda. Later on the chief of the
naval station came down to hold the
palaver, and instead of at least banishing
the wretch who had ordered the firing, he
turned the matter apparently into a politi-
cal advantage for Portugal, and insulted
us by offering us blood-money. His terms
were refused, and the palaver, though
considered settled insomuch as judgment
and punishment were pronounced, is
O 2

2 28 Seven Years among the Fjort,

still open, our agent having refused to
accept the fine when offered. Of course
British men-of-war have been there
since, but Cabenda is now Portuguese
territory, and there is no doubt that
now that Portugal has got more or less
what she desired, she will improve. In
fact, of the three powers that have inter-
fered with us, Portugal seems to be the
most energetic and most likely to govern
us well. It is hardly time yet, however,
to say much. Thus are we ignored and
left to fight our own battles.

The country was not ready for the
hurried impulse that has been given to
it, nor rich enough to have been the
cause of so much envy and grabbing.
It cannot possibly sustain two money-
grabbing and one pauper government ;
and one of two things will, in my
opinion, assuredly occur. Either these

The proposed Congo Railway. 229

governments will leave us once more
to ourselves and allow trade to develop
the country in its own peculiar way and
time ; or, overburdened, the traders will
seek other fields of labour, and the
same will befall this part of Africa that
has already befallen Gaboon.

The resources of the country north
of the Congo are undoubtedly unbounded.
Rubber grows in such quantities that
the native cuts the vine instead of
simply tapping it : coffee grows wild
and is never picked, because it is not
so valuable as rubber, and takes more
trouble to prepare for the market. Gum-
copal and copper lie buried in enormous
quantities, but envy and superstition
prevent the native from working them.
Tons of palm-oil and kernels rot every
year from the difficulty the natives have
in obtaining means of communication

230 Seven Years among the Fjort,

between the bush and the place where
the traders reside.

All along the banks of the lower
Congo you find traders' small shimbecs
or factories where the palm-oil, kernels
and other produce of the neighbourhood
are collected, while the many factories
above Boma now obtain all or nearly
all the ivory that once found its way
to Kinsembo, Ambrizette and other
points on the coast, south of the Congo.
I believe that Stanley does not exaggerate
the enormous future that a railway from
Boma to Stanley-Pool would ensure to it.
It may be interesting for you to hear
that traders have commenced building
at Stanley-Pool and Brazzaville, and are
sending down their produce by carriers,
who now demand one gun-stick per
bundle, instead of one gun of cloth ;
in other words, about 7^. 6d. instead of

The proposed Congo Railway, 2 3 1

i^. 6d. as in Stanley's time. It is not
likely that the great middle-men, owners
of all these carriers, are going to carry
ivory down to the coast for these traders
unless they can gain a sum equal to the
commission they charged the owner of
the ivory — a bush nigger — in the olden
times when they sold their ivory to the
white men on the beach for them. Hence
these traders will find that by the time
the ivory has reached the coast it has
cost them, perhaps, more than what they
could have bought it for on the coast.
And they are at the same time cheapen-
ing merchandise, and thus spoiling the
market for themselves and the middle
men who still carry on trade between
the white men on the coast and the bush-
man.

232 Seven Years among the Fjort.

DESCRIPTIONS OF THE
ILLUSTRATIONS.

(The following notes will describe those illustrations
which are not sufficiently explained in the text).

Removal of Manimacosso.

Manimacosso, utterly broken down by
his misfortunes, determines to leave his
native village, where the evil spirit seems
so anxious to ruin him. He therefore
collects his household goods, packs them
up, and, burning his shimbecs or huts,
shakes the dust off his feet, and departs to
take up his abode in the village of one of
his favourite wives. The land belonging
to him in the village he has deserted
reverts to the Prince.

Descriptions of the IlliLstrations. ^ ^ ^

J J

His little son carries an empty demijohn,
his first wife a gallon bottle and basket of
chicoanoro or native bread, his little slave
a matet or basket of pots and pans. One
slave drags the goat along, while the other
carries his master's gun reversed, not
being on the war-path. His less favoured
wife carries her child at her back and the
rest of the household goods, including
perhaps some live stock in the shape
of ducks or fowls. He himself marches
solemnly along, carrying only his kiss-a-
kiss, or gilly-gilly, every string of which is
charged with some charm to preserve him
against being shot, poisoned, burnt, or
drowned, or overpowered by some evil
spirit. In the same way, possibly, some
of us still wear our amulets, charms and
talismans. It is a custom among the
natives to bind charms round their wrists,
waists, legs, necks and heads, even as the

2 34 Seven Yeai's among the Fjort,

Jews of old their phylacteries, about their
hands, and around their forehead.

'^Thou shalt bind them for a sign upon
thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets
between thine eyes."

He goes to the Bush.

Manimacosso still feels haunted by some
evil spirit, and so, not being able to settle
down in town, he trots off to a trader and
insists upon being sent to the bush to
procure trade. After much annoyance,
the trader advances him a little fish, salt,
and rum, and he sets off in high spirits.

Arrival in the Bush.
By this time Manimacosso has quite
recovered, and after a few days' heavy
walking through the bush, has arrived at
the residence of the prince, his friend, and
owner of so many matets or baskets of
palm-oil, or kernels, or balls of rubber. He

Descriptions of the Illustrations. 235

receives a hearty welcome from his friend,
and soon settles the price to be paid for
the produce collected. He then divides
and repacks the produce according to his
own ideas.

Departure for the Trader's

Factory.
He then sets off again as soon as possi-
ble, after having arranged carriers, on his
way back to the trader's factory. On his
way, one of the carriers, noticing a few
roots of cassava lying by the roadside, was
tempted by hunger to pick them up and
partake thereof. No sooner had he eaten
part of the cassava than twenty or thirty
armed men, rushing upon him from their
different hiding-places, securely bound him.
Manimacossowas helpless in the matter, for,
not having force enough to recapture the
carrier, he well knew that, so far as pala-
vering was concerned, he stood no chance

236 Seven Years among the Fjort.

of releasing his carrier. He offered the
brigands that had set this trap for the
unwary carrier a few longs or dollars as a
ransom for the release of the prisoner.
But the brigands knew they could obtain
more for him by selling him as a slave, or
by awaiting the arrival of the prisoner's
relatives, who perhaps might be induced
to pay even more than he was worth. So
Manimacosso had to proceed without him,
and at length arrived at the white trader's
factory.

On his arrival he bothers the trader for
endless odds and ends, such as a piece of
soap to wash his clothes, a cup of rum,
a little fish, a little native bread, or chico-
ango, some thread, a needle, a knife, a
spoon, a plate. Then he tells the white
man how much he is to pay the bushman,
and how much commission he expects for
himself.

Descriptions of the Illustrations. 237

Measures his Palm-kernels.

He finally sets to work to measure his
palm-kernels.

He seats himself on a box somewhere
near the white man, and carries on a run-
ning conversation with him, while his
carriers empty the contents of the matets
or baskets, into the measures provided by
the white trader, whose head man insists
upon their being filled until they just over-
flow, when the white man gives Manima-
cosso a cheque for the value of the measure.
Manimacosso carefully ties this cheque up
in a corner of his cloth or tunic, which
serves him as his purse. The kernels thus
measured are immediately sacked up,
ready for shipment.

Measures his Palm-oil.

The baskets of oil are broken up and
the oil melted ; it is then allowed to rest in

238 Seven Years mnong the Fjort.

the pot for some time, so that ar>y foreign
matter may settle at the bottom of the pot.
The clean oil is then measured off, and the
cheque given as the measures are filled.

The oil is then placed in large deposits,
where it remains until all dirt has settled
at the bottom, when the clean oil is drawn
off and casked up for shipment.

Takes his Pay.

Manimacosso now takes his cheques to
a window, which opens into what the white
man calls his feteich or store, and here he
is allowed to choose whatever he may
fancy, from a brass nail to a piece of cloth,
including goods from the potteries, Shef-
field, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool,
or Hamburg.

The Dance.

He then goes to town in the hope that
he may be allowed to enjoy his well-earned

Desci'iptioiis of th'j Illustrations. 239

riches in peace, but no such luck awaits
him. His wives receive him kneeling and
recount all that has taken place during
his absence. All the people round about
have heard of his return, and hint that now
that he has got the wherewithal he ought
to give them a dance, that they may all
share in his prosperity. He fears being con-
sidered an ndotchi or witch, and knows
that if he does not share his riches with his
neighbours envy will drive one or other of
them to make the accusation. He there-
fore spends his hardly-earned gains in
entertaining the neighbourhood ; and thus
sociahsm deprives him of the advantages
of his enterprise, and he has little or no
motive for the accumulation of wealth.
Being ever without capital he can
neither encourage nor undertake any
industry except on the poorest scale.
Socialism, envy and superstition have thus

240 Seven Years ajuong the Fjort.

brought down Congo's once powerful
kingdom to the mean and poor concern
that it now has become — a prey to any-
foreign power or adventurer who cares to
seize and divide it.

Surf.

The produce thus collected is shipped
home by the trader, and the surf at one
gulp often swallows up the produce it has
taken the trader days to collect ; thus,
shipping is attended by much anxiety at
such places as are entirely open and un-
protected by high land.

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List of PuhUcations.

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Emily's Choice. $s.
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List of Publications, ii

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Guizofs LListofy of France. Translated by Robert Black.
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List of Publications. 1 3

ZJALFORD {F. M.) Floating Flies, and how to Dress them.
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Hall {IV. IV.) How to Live Long; or, 1408 Health Maxims^
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LLamilton {E.) Recollections of Fly-fishing for Salmon, Trout,
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Harland {Marian) Home Kitchen : a Collection of Practical
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Harley {T) Southward Ho I to the State of Georgia, c^s.

Harpej-'s Magazine. Published Monthly. 160 pages, fully
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Harrison {Mary) Skilful Cook : a Practical Alanual of Modern
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Hatton {Frank) North Bor?ieo. With Biography by Joseph
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Cor?iet of Horse : A Story for Boys, Illust., cr. 8vo, ^s.

Jack Archer: Tale of the Crimea. Illust., crown 8vo, 5-$".

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Herrick {Robert) Poetry. Preface by Austin Dobson. With
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Hicks {E. S) Our Boys: How to Enter the Merchant Service, t^s.

Higginson {T. W) Larger History of the United States. 141.

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LLomer, Iliad L.-XIL, done into Efidish Verse. By Arthur
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Hore {Mrs.) To Lake Tangatiyika in a Bath Chair. Portraits

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Hutchinson {T.) Diary and Letters. Vol. I., 16^. ; Vol. II., 163-.

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List of Publications. 15

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T AMB {Charles) Essays of Elia, With over 100 designs
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Boy's Percy: Ballads of Love and

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List of Publications. 1 7

Leonardo da Vinci's Literary Works. Edited by Dr. Jean
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Low's Standard Library of Travel and Adventure. Crown 8vo,
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Lady SilTerdale's Sweetheart. By W. Black.
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Three Feathers. By William Black.
Alice Lorraine. By R. D. Blackmore.
Christowell, a Dartmoor Tale. By R. D. BlackmoRK.
Clara Vauehan. By R. D. Blackmore.

1 8 Sampson Low ^ Mars ton, 6-» CoJs

Loiv's Sta7idard Novels — co?itlmied,

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Cripps the Carrier. By R. D. Blackmore.

Erema; or, My Father's Sin. By R. D. Blackmore.

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Mary Anerley. By R. D. Blackmore.

Tommy XJpmore. By R. D. Blackmore.

An Eng-lish Squire. By Aliss Coleridge.

Some One Else. By Mrs. B. M. Croker.

A Story of the Dragonnades. By Rev. E. GiLLiAT, M.A.

A Laodicean. By Thomas Hardy.

Ear from the Madding- Crowd. By Thomas Hardy.

Pair of Blue Eyes. By Thomas Hardy.

Return of the Native. By Thomas Hardy.

The Hand of Ethelberta. By Thomas Hardy.

The Trumpet Major. By Thomas Hardy.

Two on a Tower. By Thomas Hardy.

Three Recruits. By Joseph Hattox.

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Don John. By Jean Ingelow.

John Jerome. By Jean Ingelow. 5j-.

Sarah de Berenger. By Jean Ingelow.

Adela Cathcart. By George Mac Donald.

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Mary Marston. By George Mac Donald.

Stephen Archer. New Ed. of "Gifts." By George Mac DonALD.

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Alaric Spenceley. By Mrs. J. H. Riddell.

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A Strug-g-le for Fame. By Mrs. J. H. Riddell.

Jack's Courtship. By W. Clark Russell.

John Holdsworth. By W. Clark Russell.

A Sailor's Sweetheart. By W. Clark Russell.

Sea Q,ueen. By \V. Clark Russell

Watch Below. By W. Clark Russell.

Strang-e "Voyage. By W. CLARK RussELL.

Wreck of the Grosvenor. By W. Clark Russell.

The Lady Maud. By W. Clark Russell.

Little Loo. By W, Clark Russell.

The Late Mrs. Null. By Frank R. Stockton.

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Pog-anuc People, their Loves and Lives. By Mrs. B. Stowe,

List of Publications. 19

Loids Standard Novels — continued.

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East Ang-els. By Constance Fenimore Woolson.

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List of Piihlications. 21

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List of Publications. 23

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26 Sampson Low^ Marston^ Sr> Coh

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2 8 Sainpso7i Low, Mars ton, &> Coh

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List of Publications. 2 9

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BOOKS BY JULES VERNE.

Laege Ceowk 8vo.

WORKS.

20.000 leagues under the Sea.

Parts I. aud II. ..... .

Hector Servadac

The Fur Country

The Earth to the Moon and a Trip

round it

Michael Strogoff

Dick Sands, the Boy Captain . .
Five "Weeks in a Balloon . . .
Adventures of Three Englishmen

and Three Russians ....
Eound the World in Eighty Days

A Floating City

The Blockade Runners . . .
Dr. Ox's Experiment ....
A "Winter amid the Ice . . .
Survivors of the •' Chancellor "

Martin Paz

The Mysterious Island, 3 vols. : —
I. Dropped from the Clouds

11. Abandoned

III. Secret of the Island . .
The Child of the Cavern . . .
The Begum's Fortune . . .
Tie Tribulations of a Chinaman
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II. Tigers and Traitors . .
The Giant Raft, 2 vols. :—

I. 800 Leagues on the Amazon

II. The Cryptogram . . . .

The Green Ray

Godfrey Morgan

Keraban the Inflexible : —

I. Captain of the " Guidara " .

II. Scarpante the Spy . . . .
The Archipelago on Fire . . . .
The "Vanished Diamond . . . .

Mathias Sandorf

Lottery Ticket

( Containing 350 to 600 pp.
] and from 50 to 100
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Sampson Low, Mar s ton , &> Co.'s List of Publications. 31

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